The concept of explicit consent in the processing of personal health data

Protection of personal data is a very important concept in terms of individuals' ability to develop their personalities and human rights. Personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. Personal health data is any information relating to the physical or mental health of an identified or identifiable natural person. Personal health data is considered a special category of personal data. Therefore, it is subject to more qualified protection. Processing of personal health data is, as a rule, prohibited. However, it may be processed in the cases listed in the Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data. Personal health data may be processed with the explicit consent of the data subject. Explicit consent is defined as consent regarding a specific subject, based on information and expressed with free will. In addition, there are other processing conditions under which personal health data may be processed without the explicit consent of the data subject. In this study, firstly, the concepts of personal data and personal health data and their processing conditions are explained. Then, the definition and elements of explicit consent and the circumstances under which explicit consent is not required are discussed. Finally, guided by the decisions of the Personal Data Protection Board and international approaches, the problems that may be encountered in the practice of explicit consent are examined.