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Ethical and legal issues

Consult the Legal Team of the TechTransfer Office and the Data Protection Officer in your Institute or department to answer the following questions.

1. Will you use personal/sensitive data? If so, shortly describe the kind of personal data you will use AND add the reference to your file in your host institution’s privacy register.

Asked by

[FWO, H2020, BELSPO, HorizonEurope]

Meaning

Before starting a project, you should contact your Data Protection Officers (DPO) to be informed of GDPR compliance requirements for your institution.

You should inform your local legal office of your project’s setup and identify the necessary agreements to be signed.

The proposal for processing of personal/sensitive data has to be submitted and approved by the appropriate Privacy Registry Reference. Write here the reference to your file.

Example answers

  • Privacy Registry Reference:
  • Short description of the kind of personal data that will be used.

Mapping among funders’ DMP templates

Funder DMP section DMP question
FWO Ethical and Legal issues Will you use personal/sensitive data? If so, shortly describe the kind of personal data you will use AND add the reference to your file in your host institution’s privacy register.
BELSPO Ethical and Legal issues Will you use personal/sensitive data? If so, shortly describe the kind of personal data you will use AND add the reference to your file in your host institution’s privacy register.
ERC na na
H2020 Ethical aspects Ethical aspects
HorizonEurope Ethics Will informed consent for data sharing and long term preservation be included in questionnaires dealing with personal data?
ScienceEurope 4a. If personal data are processed, how will compliance with legislation on personal data and on security be ensured? If personal data are processed, how will compliance with legislation on personal data and on security be ensured? Ensure that when dealing with personal data data protection laws (for example GDPR) are complied with: › Consider anonymisation of personal data for preservation and/or sharing (truly anonymous data are no longer considered personal data). › Consider pseudonymisation of personal data (the main difference with anonymisation is that pseudonymisation is reversible). › Consider encryption which is seen as a special case of pseudonymisation (the encryption key must be stored separately from the data, for instance by a trusted third party). › Explain whether there is a managed access procedure in place for authorised users of personal data.

Asked by

[HorizonEurope]

Example answers

  • No/Yes/Not applicable

Mapping among funders’ DMP templates

Funder DMP section DMP question
FWO na na
BELSPO na na
ERC na na
H2020 na na
HorizonEurope Ethics Will informed consent for data sharing and long term preservation be included in questionnaires dealing with personal data?
ScienceEurope 4a. If personal data are processed, how will compliance with legislation on personal data and on security be ensured? › Gain informed consent for preservation and/or sharing of personal data.

3. Are there any ethical issues concerning the creation and/or use of the data (e.g. experiments on humans or animals, dual use)? If so, add the reference to the formal approval by the relevant ethical review committee(s).

Asked by

[FWO, H2020, BELSPO, HorizonEurope]

Meaning

The proposal has to be submitted and approved by the appropriate Ethics Committee. Write here the reference to your file.

Mapping among funders’ DMP templates

Funder DMP section DMP question
FWO Ethical and Legal issues Are there any ethical issues concerning the creation and/or use of the data (e.g. experiments on humans or animals, dual use)? If so, add the reference to the formal approval by the relevant ethical review committee(s).
BELSPO Ethical and Legal issues Are there any ethical issues concerning the creation and/or use of the data (e.g. experiments on humans or animals, dual use)? If so, add the reference to the formal approval by the relevant ethical review committee(s).
ERC na na
H2020 Ethical aspects Ethical aspects
HorizonEurope Ethics Are there, or could there be, any ethics or legal issues that can have an impact on data sharing? These can also be discussed in the context of the ethics review. If relevant, include references to ethics deliverables and ethics chapter in the Description of the Action (DoA).
ScienceEurope 4c. What ethical issues and codes of conduct are there, and how will they be taken into account? • Consider whether ethical issues can affect how data are stored and transferred, who can see or use them, and how long they are kept. Demonstrate awareness of these aspects and respective planning. • Follow the national and international codes of conducts and institutional ethical guidelines, and check if ethical review (for example by an ethics committee) is required for data collection in the research project.

4. Will Intellectual property restrictions be claimed for your data? If so, for what data and which restrictions will be asserted?

Asked by

[FWO, BELSPO]

Meaning

Consult with the Legal Team of the TechTransfer Office.

Example answers

  • If there is substantial potential, the invention will be IP protected (mostly patent protection); data will be made public after the IP application becomes public (X months after IP application).
  • If there is substantial potential, the invention will be IP protected. Data will be under embargo until IP application becomes public (X months after IP application). The Legal Team of the TechTransfer Office will be consulted.

Mapping among funders’ DMP templates

Funder DMP section DMP question
FWO Ethical and Legal issues Does your work possibly result in research data with potential for tech transfer and valorization? Will IP restrictions be claimed for the data you created? If so, for what data and which restrictions will be asserted?
BELSPO Ethical and Legal issues Does your work possibly result in research data with potential for tech transfer and valorization? Will IP restrictions be claimed for the data you created? If so, for what data and which restrictions will be asserted?
ERC na na
H2020 Ethical aspects Ethical aspects
HorizonEurope na na
ScienceEurope 4b. How will other legal issues, such as intellectual property rights and ownership, be managed? What legislation is applicable? Indicate whether intellectual property rights (for example Database Directive, sui generis rights) are affected. If so, explain which and how will they be dealt with.

5. Do existing 3rd party agreements restrict dissemination or exploitation of the data you (re)use? If so, to what data do they relate and what restrictions are in place?

Asked by

[FWO, BELSPO, HorizonEurope]

Example answers

  • Because of 3rd party agreements, the following restrictions are in place for dataset [Name]: [explain].

Mapping among funders’ DMP templates

Funder DMP section DMP question
FWO Ethical and Legal issues Do existing 3rd party agreements restrict dissemination or exploitation of the data you (re)use? If so, to what data do they relate and what restrictions are in place?
BELSPO Ethical and Legal issues Do existing 3rd party agreements restrict dissemination or exploitation of the data you (re)use? If so, to what data do they relate and what restrictions are in place?
ERC na na
H2020 Ethical aspects na
HorizonEurope Increase data reuse Will the data produced in the project be useable by third parties, in particular after the end of the project?
ScienceEurope 4b. How will other legal issues, such as intellectual property rights and ownership, be managed? What legislation is applicable? Indicate whether there are any restrictions on the re-use of third-party data.