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Find out moreThe first Law Update of 2024 is here, and our first focus of the year spotlights Healthcare and Lifesciences, a sector that is undergoing significant growth and development across the MENA region.
Our focus provides an insight into some of the most important regulatory updates across the region, such as the UAE’s groundbreaking law on the use of human genome, Kuwait’s resolution on nuclear and radioactive materials, the new regulations for healthcare services in Qatar, Egypt’s healthcare regulatory framework, and the impact of the Saudi Civil Transactions Law on the healthcare and life sciences sector … and there is so much more!
Beyond the healthcare pages our lawyers share with you multi-sector insights where you will discover articles on Dubai’s DIFC regulatory framework for startups, Bahrain’s commercial agencies law, and we also shed light on Kuwaiti civil code and the advantages of setting up a joint stock company in Saudi Arabia.
Read the full editionThe Abu Dhabi Department of Health (“DoH”) has published a Circular (DoH Circular No. (71) of 2020) which states that it will be initiating an audit program to ensure that all healthcare entities in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi are complying with the Abu Dhabi Healthcare Information and Cyber Security Standards (“ADHICS Standards”).
DoH issued the ADHICS Standards on 3 February 2019 to ensure that the healthcare sector in Abu Dhabi harmonises its practices regarding privacy and information security to meet international standards and complement the Abu Dhabi Government’s Policy on the Healthcare Information Exchange (“HIE”) (dated 29/11/2018) to enhance the safety and security of health information.
Effectively there was a 12-month transition period to comply with the ADHICs standards.
The healthcare information and cyber security requirements within ADHICS Standards include standards for the following:
A significant control in the ADHICS Standards is Section CM 4.2 which provides that no healthcare entity can use cloud services or infrastructure to store, process or share information that contain the health information of a patient.
The control further states that healthcare entities must identify and disconnect integration of a system that processes, stores or utilises health information with any systems that connect or utilise cloud services and not share identified or de-identified health information with third parties, inclusive of counterparts and partners, unless authorised by the DoH.
The audit program will be undertaken by the Emirates Classification Society (TASNEEF) through their subsidiary TASNEEF-RINA Business Assurance (TRBA).
The audit program will be conducted in three year cycles, where in the first year of the cycle, there will be an audit conducted by TRBA to check for compliance with ADHICS, where a conformance certificate will be awarded.
In the second and third year of the cycle, there will be a surveillance audit to check for compliance with ADHICS, but no certification is provided for surveillance audits.
For more information regarding compliance with ADHICS Standards, Al Tamimi & Company’s Healthcare Sector and Technology, Media & Telecommunications teams regularly advise on laws and regulations impacting the healthcare sector. For further information please contact healthcare@tamimi.com.
Andrea Tithecott
Partner, Head of Regulatory, Head of Healthcare
a.tithecott@tamimi.com
Andrew Fawcett
Senior Counsel, Technology, Media & Telecommunications
a.fawcett@tamimi.com
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