Data protection in the Finnish Centre for Pensions’ research activities
Processing of data at the Finnish Centre for Pensions
Research is a statutory duty of the Finnish Centre for Pensions. The processing of personal data is based on the Act on the Finnish Centre for Pensions.
At the Finnish Centre for Pensions, research data are processed in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and national data protection legislation. As research is a statutory duty of the Finnish Centre for Pensions, the processing of personal data is primarily based on this statutory obligation and on provisions concerning scientific research.
Research activities use register data, survey data and interview data held by the Finnish Centre for Pensions, as well as data obtained from other organisations.
Research data are processed only by those employees of the Finnish Centre for Pensions whose duties require it, and by research partners who have been granted a permit to use the data. Access to personal data is restricted through access rights, and the use of data is monitored. All individuals processing the data are bound by a statutory obligation of confidentiality.
Research data are stored and retained in a secure network environment in accordance with the Finnish Centre for Pensions’ data management guidelines. Data are anonymised or pseudonymised at the earliest possible stage. Research results are always reported in a way that prevents the identification of individuals.
A data protection impact assessment (DPIA) has been carried out for the Finnish Centre for Pensions’ research and statistics activities. A separate impact assessment is conducted for individual studies where the planned processing is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals.
Data may only be disclosed with a research permit
Research data are not publicly available because they contain personal data, the disclosure of which is restricted by legislation.
The Finnish Centre for Pensions may disclose data under its control for scientific research only based on a separate research permit. Survey data are disclosed only in joint research projects.
A data permit requires a written application, a research plan and confidentiality agreements signed by the data users. Data disclosed to external researchers are pseudonymised or anonymised and are subject to a limited period of use.
If the Act on the Secondary Use of Health and Social Data applies to the compilation of the research data, the Finnish Centre for Pensions may disclose the data to the Social and Health Data Permit Authority (Findata). In such cases, Findata is responsible for processing permit applications and amendment requests and for issuing permit decisions whenever data from controllers covered by the Act are combined.
Data are not disclosed for commercial purposes. Questions related to data may be sent to: tutkimusaineistot(at)etk.fi.
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Ethical review
The Finnish Centre for Pensions is committed to complying with the guidelines on good scientific practice issued by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK and with ethical principles for research involving human participants.
In research based on register or survey data, a separate ethical review is not required when the conditions defined in TENK’s principles are met and the study does not involve research designs that specifically require ethical review.
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How is the consent of research participants considered?
In register-based research, the processing of personal data is based on the statutory research duty of the Finnish Centre for Pensions, and separate consent is therefore not required.
Participation in surveys is always voluntary, and respondents give their consent to the use of their data by responding to the survey. Participants are provided with the most important data protection information in connection with the study, as well as a link to the privacy notice available on the website. The notice is also provided in printed form on request.
Privacy notices are prepared for survey studies
A separate privacy notice is prepared for each survey study conducted by the Finnish Centre for Pensions. The notice includes, among other things:
- contact details of the controller and the data protection officer
- the purpose and legal basis of the research and the processing of personal data
- categories of personal data processed and data sources
- principles governing the disclosure and protection of data
- data retention periods
- the rights of data subjects
The privacy notices are always reviewed by the data protection officer of the Finnish Centre for Pensions (tietosuoja@etk.fi) before the study begins.
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