In 2022, the European Union published a proposal for a European Health Data Space (EHDS), with the aim of making health data accessible in a secure, reliable, and interoperable manner for both primary care and secondary use (such as research, innovation, and policy development). The EHDS officially entered into force in early 2025 and requires each EU member state to establish one or more Health Data Access Bodies (HDAB’s) to be established. These HDABs are responsible for facilitating safe and responsible data availability for the purposes of scientific research, innovation, and policy development. In the Netherlands, this task is carried out in close collaboration between the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS), ICTU, Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), and Health-RI.

In order to meet the requirements arising from the EHDS, work is underway in the Netherlands on a national data catalog, via Health-RI. Healthcare institutions must each set up a metadata catalog and a data exchange architecture. They are supported in this by an implementing organization within one of the designated regions in the Netherlands. For the Utrecht region, UMC Utrecht, as the implementing party within Health Data Space Utrecht (HDSU), is responsible for supporting healthcare institutions in this transition. In doing so, it is essential that healthcare institutions organize their data and metadata in accordance with the FAIR-principes (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), so that they remain available and reusable in the long term.