> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://open-data-institute.gitbook.io/data-governance-playbook/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://open-data-institute.gitbook.io/data-governance-playbook/play-eleven-cross-border-data-sharing/what-is-cross-border-data-sharing.md).

# What is cross-border data sharing?

Health data may be stored in databases around the globe. This data may need to be accessed, used or shared in a different country to where the data was collected. Common examples of cross-border data sharing in the health sector include:

* Where a patient is travelling and needs to have their medical records accessed from outside the country they are resident in. 
* Where data held by a global organisation in one country is sought to be used for secondary purposes, with the data analysis and project work occurring in a different country.

Data protection regulations do not always permit the transfer of data across borders. For example:

* Some countries have laws that require that personal and sensitive data, like a person's health records, is stored within the country where the patient resides. 
* De-identified data (for example cancer registry data) can be permitted to be shared in some cases (for example Austria) but not in others (for example Belgium, Israel and Korea).
* Data about European citizens cannot be stored outside the EU, for example in the United States, without [greater protections](https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/es/ip_21_2847) to ensure that personal data is not available for access by government security departments. This has led to the creation of a new [standard contractual clauses instrument](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?uri=CELEX%3A32021D0914\&locale=en) to enable cross-border data sharing where a global organisation may have data stored in servers around the globe.