The Taiwanese people can now apply to opt out of the secondary use of their National Health Insurance (NHI) data - which is mainly used for academic and research purposes.
According to the NHI administration, the four categories of data that can be opted out of are insurance enrollment records, medical service records, medical imaging and pathology reports, and testing and examination data.
The move follows a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling which upheld the constitutionality of a provision in the Personal Data Protection Act allowing government and academic institutions to use National Health Insurance databases for statistical or research purposes.
The ruling also deemed the lack of an oversight mechanism and a way for individuals to request termination of use unconstitutional.
The Constitutional Court in its order had said the law be amended within three years with the deadline set for 12 August 2025.
The National Health Insurance Administration says most secondary uses of data are for academic research and serve the public interest.
According to senior government officials, those seeking to exercise the right to opt out will have to submit an application to the NHIA, which will disclose what NHI records are being used.
There will, however, be exceptions in which the NHIA may deny the option to opt out. An example of the exception could be in cases where the use of data may be used in the government's efforts to prevent pandemic and responding to such situations.
The law also allows previously approved opt-out requests to be ignored for reasons of national security or when there is an imminent danger to life or property or if the government receives an official request to provide a person's NHI records.
The constitutional court judgement had stated that Article 6 of Personal Data Protection Act does not violate the people’s right to privacy and hence was constitutional.
The judgment, however, said the absence of an independent supervisory authority responsible for ensuring that Taiwan institutions and bodies comply with the data protection law, can be unconstitutional, putting personal data protection system on the borderline to failure. The court had said therefore laws and regulations must be amended to protect people’s information privacy guaranteed by Article 22 of the Constitution.