Recital 9

While the rights conferred by Regulation (EU) 2016/679 should continue to apply, the right of access to data by a natural person, established in Regulation (EU) 2016/679, should be further complemented in the healthcare sector. Under that Regulation, controllers do not have to provide access immediately. The right of access to health data is still commonly implemented in many places through the provision of the requested health data in paper format or as scanned documents, which is time-consuming for the controller, such as a hospital or other healthcare provider that provides access. That situation slows down access to health data by natural persons, and can have a negative impact on them if they need such access immediately due to urgent circumstances pertaining to their health condition. It is therefore necessary to provide for a more efficient way for natural persons to access their own personal electronic health data. They should have the right to have free-of-charge and immediate access, while respecting the need for technological practicability, to specific priority categories of personal electronic health data, such as the patient summary, through an electronic health data access service. That right should apply regardless of the Member State in which the personal electronic health data are processed, the type of healthcare provider, the sources of those data or the Member State of affiliation of the natural person. The scope of that complementary right established under this Regulation and the conditions for exercising it differ in certain ways from the right of access to personal data under Regulation (EU) 2016/679, which covers all personal data held by a controller and is exercised against an individual controller, which has up to one month to reply to a request. The right to access personal electronic health data under this Regulation should be limited to the categories of data falling within its scope, be exercised via an electronic health data access service and entail an immediate answer. The rights under Regulation (EU) 2016/679 should continue to apply, allowing natural persons to benefit from their rights under both legal frameworks, in particular the right to obtain a paper copy of the electronic health data.