In healthcare, data sharing is important not only for the purpose of care, but also for various public interest reasons. For data sharing to reach its full potential, regulatory barriers must be overcome and data quality and security must be ensured. 

Community law prohibits agreements between companies that have as their result the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition. However, some types of agreements can bring objective economic benefits. This is why there are block exemptions, which include research and development agreements. The new European exemption framework for R&D agreements came into effect last July.