Журнал. World association for medical law. The COVID-19 pandemic. Volume 39 2

249 World Association for Medical Law Medicine and Law WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC? Prof. r. David Townend* , Dr. Remco van de Pas** , Lisette Bongers, ***, Sharmi Haque****,Birgit Wouters*****, Eva Pilot******, Nina Stahl*******, Dr. Peter Schröder-Bäck********,Dr. David Shaw********* and Dr. Thomas Krafft********** Abstract: Whereas the heart of the purpose and activity of the European Union is concerned with economic harmonisation, its internal market, and the freedom of movement of people, goods, services, and capital, necessarily require public health measures. The EU is committed to both human rights and to “Health in All Policies”. This paper considers how that agenda has been confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It considers how the EU Treaties limit the possible scope of that response. The paper considers responses in relation to freedom of movement, the work of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, issues relating to the operation of the General Data Protection Regulation, and the Clinical Trials Directive Med Law (2020) 39:2:249-268 *Department ofHealth, Ethics andSociety; Care andPublicHealthResearchSchool (CAPHRI); Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. d.townend@maastrichtuniversity.nl ** Department of Health, Ethics and Society, as above. r.vandepas@maastrichtuniversity.nl *** Department of Health, Ethics and Society, as above. l.bongers@maastrichtuniversity.nl **** Department of Health, Ethics and Society, as above. sharmi.haque@student. maastrichtuniversity.nl ***** Department of Health, Ethics and Society, as above. birgit.wouters@maastrichtuniversity. nl ****** Department of Health, Ethics and Society, as above. eva.pilot@maastrichtuniversity.nl ******* Department of Health, Ethics and Society, as above. n.stahl@maastrichtuniversity.nl ******** Department of International Health, Care and Public Health Research School (CAPHRI), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands peter.schroder@maastrichtuniversity.nl ********* Department of Health, Ethics and Society, as above. d.shaw@maastrichtuniversity.nl ********** Department of Health, Ethics and Society, as above. thomas.krafft@ maastrichtuniversity.nl