CWA 17502:2020

Privacy of monitoring technology - Guidelines for introducing ambient and wearable monitoring technologies balancing privacy protection against the need for oversight and care

Scope

This CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) gives guidelines for introducing, implementing and operating sensor monitoring technologies in the private homes of citizens who are in need of care and for the purpose of detecting critical events and trends.
The guidelines describe and exemplify the processes and procedures to support an ethically responsible balance between, on the one hand, respect for the autonomy and privacy of the citizens in need of care and, on the other, the obligation to provide quality care of typically frail citizens. The guidelines do not include issues of security or technical requirements for availability of information to relevant parties. The guidelines do not include management of or procedures for handling monitoring data.
This document contains
- a model for establishing an agreement on privacy protection between care receivers and care providers for the introduction, implementation and operation of ambient and wearable technologies;
- an adaptation of the informed consent process to achieve a balance between privacy and duty of care for the individual care receiver;
- examples of violations of privacy or neglect of duty of care.
The guidelines are intended to be of use for several stakeholders including the primary target group, care organisations. At the same time, care receivers (patients and citizens in need of oversight for health purposes) are the main focus, but will not be expected to be primary users of the guidelines. See Table 1 for other important stakeholders.

Table 1 - Target groups