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European, Middle Eastern and African Society for Biopreservation and Biobanking

ESBB

According to the ESBB's vision EMPOWERING BIOSHARING and mission "Advance biosharing for a better world through mobilising, inspiring, and educating the biobank community across EMEA", the aim is to meet the following goals in the field of biobanking and biopreservation of biological resources (human, animal, plant, microbial and environmental) within Europe, Middle-East, Africa, and beyond.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Legislative framework for the governance of common European data spaces

31 Jul 2020

To Whom It May Concern, ESBB expresses its sincere interest in the EU Data Strategy as a timely cross-sectional initiative of high impact and benefit for citizens of Europe and beyond. ESBB is fully aligned with EU’s current data strategy proposition in general and its INCEPTION IMPACT ASSESSMENT in particular. However, ESBB likes to emphasize one aspect that could widen the scope of likely environmental impacts. For your background information, ESBB is an international non-profit organization located in Brussels, Belgium. ESBB represents all aspects of biobanking and biopreservation of biological resources (human and non-human, animal, plant and environmental samples and derivatives as well as associated (research) data; www.esbb.org). Particularly, the ESBB Working Groups on Data Standardization & Harmonization, Regulatory-Ethics-GDPR, Automation & Interfaces, Environment & Human Biomonitoring, Plant Biodiversity, Domestic & Wildlife, and Microbiome among others fit well to the incentives of the EU Data Strategy and are eager to contribute if needed. In particular, ESBB kindly suggests to consider the following aspects in the INCEPTION IMPACT ASSESSMENT under part C (Preliminary Assessment of Expected Impacts) on Likely Environmental Impacts: > ESBB suggests to define biodiversity as part of the Green Deal data space in more detail and to a wider extend. While the Likely Environmental Impacts through the “green deal-, energy-, and agriculture- data space” specifically point to impacts for climate change, circular economy, zero-pollution, deforestation, energy efficiency, local consumption, renewable energy resources, precision farming capacities, reduced emissions and – last but not least – biodiversity, we suggest to clarify that biodiversity comprises e.g. also domestic and wildlife animals, plants and crops, fungi, and microbiomes. Against this background and on behalf of ESBB Council, I express our highest interest and support for implementing the EU Data Strategy and regard this INCEPTION IMPACT ASSESSMENT as quite comprehensive with the exception for the suggested addition as outlined above. We would be delighted to support this challenging but highly valuable endeavour with our community’s broad expertise and active engagement. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if our society can be of more support. Sincerely, Prof. Jens K. Habermann, M.D., Ph.D. President, ESBB
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