Pharmaceutical Companies Impacted by New Data Laws

Processing of personal data is of the utmost importance for pharmaceutical companies for their operations, which are highly dependent on collecting, classifying, and analyzing personal data of patients, physicians, and other healthcare professionals.

The DP Code and Its Application to Pharmaceutical Companies

OVER the last decade, the Turkish Grand National Assembly made repeated attempts to enact a data protection law, but only found success after final ratification of a longstanding treaty. Signed in 1981, Turkey finally approved the ratification of the Council of Europe’s Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data ("Convention 108") on February 18, 2016, which ultimately led to passage of the Personal Data Protection Code[1] ("DP Code") on March 24, 2016. The DP Code became fully effective in its entirety on October 7, 2016 following the end of the grace period in relation to the enforcement certain provisions.

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The processing of personal data includes any operation that is performed upon personal data such as collection, recording, storage, preservation, alteration, adaptation, disclosure, transfer, retrieval, making available for collection, categorization, or blocking its use, wholly or partly, by automatic means or by means other than automatic means, which form part of a filing system. Storage and use of data relating to customers, patients, healthcare professionals, or employees, which constitute a significant part of a pharmaceutical company’s operations, are likely to fall within the scope of processing of personal dataunder the DP Code. Therefore, pharmaceutical companies must implement necessary measures in order to comply with the principles and procedures set forth under the DP Code while conducting their daily operations.

Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle