Ethics Approval for European Registries
e-REC
e-REC is approved by the Science Committee of Internal Medicine at the Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands and the National Ethics Service and Information Governance authorities in the UK. No identifiable or partially identifiable personal information is captured in e-REC and individual patient consent is not required. The reported data are stored on a secure server in the Leiden University Medical Center, and all information provided is kept in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR 2016/679).Core Registry
The Core Registry is approved by the Science Committee of Internal Medicine at the Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands and the National Ethics Service and Information Governance authorities in the UK.
The information collected by the Core Registry is what is expected to be collected during routine clinical care and may be shared with approved users to perform or develop new research studies. The Patient Information Sheet with Informed Consent allow greater patient involvement through functions such as dynamic consent, completion of patient reported outcomes and opting to stay in touch through newsletters.
The Core Registry does not collect any information on names, addresses and local hospital numbers. Patients can also access their own information in the Core Registry. All information is kept strictly confidential and handled through secure password protected electronic systems and only those who are directly involved with the Registry are able to obtain access. All information is stored on a secure server in the Leiden University Medical Center in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR 2016/679).
Centres that recruit through a process of opt-out consent can specify this when a new record is created. However local approval is required for the Core Registry.
Centres are advised to check if they require local approvals at their own centre.
Additional information on the ethics approval (the Netherlands):
- e-REC Ethics Approval (, 223 KB)
- Core Registry Ethics Approval (, 188 KB)
- Science Committee Regulations (, 168 KB)
- Core Registry Protocol (, 311 KB)
Why are the documents regarding ethics approval only available in Dutch and English? Our database is based in the Netherlands and has therefore been approved by the Dutch Ethics Committee. We have translated the documents to English for everyone to understand and to use as a basis since ethical approval legislation change within countries. It is possible that your centre requires you to get local ethics approval before entering data into the Core Registry.
