INITIATIVES AT THE EU
This page presents the different initiatives being led at the European Union that have integrated the right to be forgotten with the aim of ending discrimination against cancer survivors.
Cancer Report of the EU Mission Board for Cancer
The report outlines concrete recommendations to address the needs of cancer survivors.
Europe's Beating Cancer Plan
The Right to be Forgotten was named as one of the European Commission's priorities in the Europe's Beating Cancer Plan.
Proposal for a Directive on Consumer Credits
Repealing and replacing the Consumer Credit Directive (2008/48/EC)
Adoption of European Parliament Resolution
on ways to strenghten the role of the EU in the fight against cancer. It calls for EU-wide protection of cancer suvivors from financial discrimination.
Provisional agreement on Consumer Credit Directive reached
including a provision granting cancer survivors the Right to be Forgotten when applying to credit requiring insurance
Approval of the Final text of Directive (EU) 2023/2225 approved by Parliament
The final text explicitly addresses the challenges faced by cancer survivors in accessing financial services.
Enter into force of the Directive on Consumer Credits
Member States have two years from November 2023 to transpose it into national law, followed by an additional year for implementation.
Code of Conduct dedicated to the Right to be Forgotten
The Cancer Plan supported work on a voluntary stakeholder code of conduct on cancer patients’ fair access to financial services with the aim to advance the ‘right to be forgotten’ for cancer survivors in the EU. No agreement was reached.
High-level Conference on the RTBF
Conference organised by Doctor Françoise Munier under the auspices of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU.
Revision of the implementation of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan by the Commission
The revision emphasised the need to the Right to be Forgotten for survivors
Discussion on the Right to be Forgotten in the SANT Committee
MEP Tomislav Sokol (EPP, Croatia), MEP Michalis Hadjipantela (EPP, Cyprus) and MEP Nicolás González Casares (S&D, Spain) underlined the need to act on the right to be forgotten.
Submission of a Parliamentary Question by MEPs Sophie Wilmès (Renew, Belgium) and Olivier Chastel (Renew, Belgium)
Urging the Commission to address financial discrimination against cancer survivors and explore protective measures and new legislation.
The Right to Be Forgotten for cancer survivors has emerged as a critical issue at the crossroads of health, financial inclusion, and fundamental rights. At its core, the RTBF is indeed about safeguarding human dignity, equality, and privacy—principles enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Sparked by the advocacy of survivors, medical professionals, and legal experts such as Professor Françoise Tulkens, this principle calls for an end to unjust financial discrimination long after treatment has ended.
While traditionally considered a matter for national competence, the European Union has progressively recognised its role in ensuring equal access to credit and insurance for cancer survivors. As this page outlines, significant steps have been taken at EU level—yet much remains to be done. Ensuring a harmonised and binding EU-wide framework is not only possible within existing EU competences; it is necessary to fully realise the promise of non-discrimination and the right to rebuild one’s life after cancer.
2020 Establishing the Foundation – Mission Board for Cancer
The European Commission created the Mission Board for Cancer responsible for proposing a coherent set of actions, aligned with EU and Member States initiatives, that will help save and improve the lives of millions of Europeans affected by cancer and its risk factors. The Mission Board released on 25 September 2020 a report “Conquering Cancer: Mission Possible” outlining concrete recommendations to address the needs of cancer survivors:
- Recommendation 7: Developing an EU-wide research programme and policy support to improve the quality of life of cancer patients and survivors, family members and carers, and all persons with an increased risk of cancer
- Recommendation 8: Create a European Cancer Patient Digital Centre where cancer patients and survivors can deposit and share their data for personalized care
- Recommendation 9: Achieve Cancer Health Equity in the EU across the continuum of the disease
2021: The Right to Be Forgotten Attracts Political Attention
Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (February 2021)
The Right to be Forgotten was acknowledged as a consideration within Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, which the European Commission described as “a political commitment to turn the tide against cancer and another stepping stone towards a strong European Health Union and a more secure, better-prepared and more resilient EU”. As part of Action 35, the Commission proposed to address the fair access for cancer survivors to financial services via the development of a Code of Conduct and a reflection process on long-term solutions between 2021 and 2023.
Code of Conduct
As part of the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the European Commission gathered European cancer stakeholders to devise a Code of Conduct dedicated to the Right to be Forgotten. Despite numerous roundtables and discussions between European cancer patient organisations (the Cancer Leagues, European Cancer Organisation…), European insurers and Doctor Françoise Meunier, ultimately, no agreement was reached between participants, notably due to diverging visions on the number of years after which the Right to be Forgotten would apply. It is worth noting that the Code of Conduct, due to its non-binding nature, would still have fallen short of a strong and legal commitment to protect cancer survivors.
Consumer Credit Directive Proposal (2021)
In 2021, the European Commission submitted a proposal for a Directive on Consumer Credits (2021/0171(COD) to ensure a high level of consumer protection across the EU by promoting responsible lending practices, enhancing transparency, and helping consumers make informed decisions when entering into credit agreements.
2022: Political Momentum Builds
European Parliament Resolution (February 2022)
On 16 February 2022, the European Parliament (EP) adopted a resolution (n°125) on ways to strengthen the role of the European Union in the fight against cancer, as a response to the Commission’s Beating Cancer Plan. Adopted under the Parliament’s “own-initiative” procedure, meaning it does not have the force of law, the resolution calls for EU-wide protection of cancer survivors from financial discrimination by ensuring that insurers and banks do not consider past cancer diagnoses. It also urges national laws and common standards to guarantee the Right to be Forgotten within 10 years after treatment (or 5 years for under-18s) by 2025 and to support embedding this right in EU legislation to harmonise credit assessments and improve access to financial services. The Parliament called on Member States to implement national legislation to ensure equal access to financial services to cancer survivors.
Trio Council Presidency’s Political Declaration (2022 – 2023)
The Trio Presidency of the Council held from 2022 to 2023 by France, the Czech Republic and Sweden mentioned the right to be forgotten in their Political Declaration on cancer. In Action 24, they articulated a commitment to achieve an EU-wide Right to be Forgotten. The Trio Presidency also proposed to establish a network for the implementation of the Right to be Forgotten for cancer survivors, involving the five Member States where this crucial provision had already entered into force. These actions showed a true commitment from France, first of the presidency trio, to the Right to be Forgotten a call for other countries to protect and support their cancer survivors.
Interinstitutional Agreement on the Consumer Credit Directive (December 2022)
On 2 December 2022, during interinstitutional negotiations, the Parliament included provisions on the right to be forgotten in a provisional agreement on a Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on consumer credits. A key achievement of this agreement was the inclusion of a provision granting cancer survivors the “Right to be Forgotten” when applying to credit requiring insurance.
MEP Kateřina Konečná (Non-attached, CZ) was instrumental in getting the Right to be Forgotten included in the provisional text. On the day of the deal, she declared: “In this time of economic crisis, we have prepared legislation that will really protect consumers in the field of consumer credit. For the first time in history, we managed to enforce the guarantee of the Right to be Forgotten for cancer patients in EU legislation.”
2023: First EU Legislation Referencing the Right to Be Forgotten
Consumer Credit Directive Adopted (September 2023)
The final act of the Consumer Credit Directive was signed on 18 October 2023 and published in the Official Journal on 30 October 2023 after approval by the European Parliament on 12 September 2023. It explicitly addresses the challenges faced by cancer survivors in accessing financial services and proposes a 15 years’ timeline despite the proposal of 5 years by the European Parliament. It is important to note the resistance from countries like Germany, which view the inclusion of the Right to Be Forgotten in the Consumer Credit Directive as a horizontal issue that should not be handled through sector-specific legislation or interfere with national insurance regulations.
- “(48) Because of their medical history, many cancer survivors in long-term remission often experience an unfair treatment in accessing to financial services. They often face prohibitively high premiums, although they have been cured for many years, even decades. For the purpose of giving consumers who survived cancer equal access to insurance related to credit agreements, Member States should require that the insurance policies are not based on health data of consumers after a relevant period of time following the end of the consumer’s medical treatment. Such period of time determined by the Member States may not exceed a period of 15 years counting from the end of the medical treatment of the consumer.”
- “(55) The assessment of creditworthiness should be based on information on the financial and economic situation, (…) That information (…) should not include special categories of personal data referred to in Article 9(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, such as health data including cancer data, nor information obtained from social networks.”
- “Article 14 (4) Member States shall require that personal data concerning consumers’ diagnoses of oncological diseases are not used for the purpose of an insurance policy related to a credit agreement after a period of time determined by the Member States, not exceeding 15 years following the end of the consumers’ medical treatment.”
The Directive entered into force on 19 November 2023. Member States were then granted two years to transpose it into national law, followed by one additional year for implementation.
While this marks an important step forward in protecting cancer survivors from financial discrimination, the Consumer Credit Directive falls short in several respects. While this marks the first mention of the Right to be Forgotten in European legislation, a Directive allows each Member State to determine its own approach to achieving the objective set at the EU level. The directive states that the timeline can be up to 15 years, leaving it to the discretion of Member States to determine the exact duration. However, a 15-year period is excessively long and does not reflect the significant advancements in oncology. Medical evidence consistently shows that the majority of cancer survivors, in the absence of relapse, no longer present an increased health risk 5 years after completing treatment. This 5-year benchmark is widely recognised by healthcare professionals as a critical point of cure. A Regulation with a 5-year benchmark would therefore better enshrine the illegal nature of discrimination against cancer survivors as it would immediately become law across the EU in a harmonised way. Furthermore, as seen in France where the Right to be Forgotten has been implemented almost 10 years ago, insurers are not compromised with this legislation and financial sustainability remains.
2024: Continued Advocacy Under Belgian EU Council Presidency
High Level Conference (February 2024)
At the High-Level Conference on Ending Financial Discriminiation Against Cancer Survivors organised by Doctor Françoise Meunier in February 2024 under the auspices of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, MEP Deirdre Clune (EPP, Ireland), MEP Kateřina Konečná (NI, Czechia), MEP Tilly Metz (Greens, Luxembourg), MEP Dolors Montserrat (EPP, Spain), MEP Tomislav Sokol (EPP, Croatia), and former MEP Manuel Pizarro (S&D, Portugal) reinstated their commitment to finding an EU-wide legal framework in the current legislative cycle.
2025: Renewed Pressure for Binding Law
Commission Review of the Implementation of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (Early 2025)
In early 2025, the Commission reviewed the implementation of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, emphasising the need to include the Right to be Forgotten for survivors in EU legislation. The Commission highlighted persistent challenges such as funding constraints, healthcare disparities, and the integration of innovative solutions across Member States. During a debate with the European Parliament’s SANT Committee on 19 March about the Commission’s four-year assessment of the implementation of the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, MEP Tomislav Sokol (EPP, Croatia), MEP Michalis Hadjipantela (EPP, Cyprus) and MEP Nicolás González Casares (S&D, Spain) underlined the need to act on the Right to be Forgotten. Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, responsible for launching Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, and Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, responsible for financial services, financial stability and Capital Markets Union its support to devising a solution with stakeholders’ participation.
Parliamentary Written Question (26 March 2025)
On 26 March 2025, MEP Sophie Wilmès (Renew, Belgium) and MEP Olivier Chastel (Renew, Belgium) submitted a Parliamentary Written Question to the European Commission urging the latter to address financial discrimination against cancer survivors and explore protective measures and new legislation.
On 28 May 2025, the Commission published its response acknowledging the importance of the issue within the framework of the European Beating Cancer Plan. However, the only approach currently supported by the Commission remains that of a voluntary code of conduct among stakeholders. This type of non-binding approach is insufficient to ensure fair and consistent protection for cancer survivors across all Member States. The right to be forgotten deserves a more ambitious political response and true legislative harmonisation at the European level.
© Serge Marteaux, Bruxelles Photo, 2022