PET Talk 8: Anonymization and legal framework conditions in Research Data Centers in Germany

Beschreibung

The Research Data Center (RDC) of the Federal Statistical Office was the first RDC of an official data producer in Germany in 2001. There are now 39 centers that offer anonymized data for scientific purposes with a certificate from the RatSWD (https://www.konsortswd.de/angebote/forschende/alle-datenzentren/), partly on the basis of very different legal foundations. Over this period, further developments in anonymization, but also legal changes in particular, have gradually expanded data access.

The draft bill for the Research Data Act currently under discussion is intended to significantly expand access to publicly produced data for scientific research. In particular, a legal basis is to be created that will allow the various data sets of the RDC to be used in an integrated manner via a German Microdata Center. The AnigeD project (Anonymization of georeferenced and integrated Data) examined the initial fundamental questions that will arise with the implementation of the Research Data Act between 2023 and 2025.

The presentation will provide an in-depth insight into current practices in anonymization and data access in the RDC, with a view to the challenges that will hopefully arise from a research data act.