The Directive on Patients Rights in Cross Border Healthcare (2011/24/EU) establishes the right for EU citizens to seek healthcare in another European country and to seek reimbursement, and creates the foundations for the cross border exchange of health data. Article 14 on eHealth establishes the voluntary network of national authorities responsible for eHealth, to support cooperation among Member States.

The  eHealth Network has a mandate to draw up guidelines on a non-exhaustive list of data that are to be included in patients’ summaries; effective methods for enabling the use of medical information for public health and research; common identification and authentication measures to facilitate transferability of data in cross-border healthcare.