Brexit: Withdrawal Agreement and ERNs

The Withdrawal Agreement as agreed between the parties in October 2019 entered into force on 1 February 2020, with the following implications:

• UK healthcare providers can continue participating in the ERNs as members and they will continue to have access to the Clinical Patent Management System (CPMS) and other ERN IT tools and databases until the end of the transitional period (31 December 2020).
• The personal data of patients enrolled by a UK healthcare provider can be kept in the CPMS until the end of the transitional period (31 December 2020).
• UK healthcare providers will continue exercising their role as controllers of personal data of their enrolled patients in line with the GDPR and Union Law until the end of the transitional period (31 December 2020).
• As of 1 February 2020, UK authorities (i.e. the ministry of health) will no longer participate in meetings concerning ERNs, e.g. the Board of Member States meetings, subject to the limited exceptions provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement.
• There will be no impact on the ERN Coordinators Group meetings as all UK coordinators have been replaced by EU27 coordinators.