The High Authority for Health is concerned about the protection of experts participating in working groups
Are we witnessing a turning point in the functioning of the High Authority for Health (HAS)? According to a decision by the Council of State on Tuesday, July 29, it may have to make public the names and positions of the members of the working groups it is tasking with developing recommendations for good practice.
Until now, the HAS methodology provided that the identity of all participants in these groups would only be revealed at the time of publication of the recommendations " in order to avoid any pressure on the members of the working group and thus preserve the serenity of the work " , as the authority recalled in February 2024. But Juristes pour l'enfance (JPE), a conservative association from conservative movements hostile to marriage for all, has just obtained a change in this protocol.
The dispute settled by the high administrative court concerned the working group whose mission was to establish recommendations for good practice relating to the care of transgender people over the age of 16 (the recommendations published on Friday July 18 finally concerns those over 18).
"Pressures"In February 2024, JPE obtained from the Montreuil Administrative Court (Seine-Saint-Denis) an order for the HAS to provide it with the names and qualifications of the group's members. The association, which claims to " work for the respect of the fundamental rights and needs of children ," said it could not accept that the HAS's work be carried out "in such secrecy ."
In its decision, the Council of State explains that, contrary to the defense put forward by the HAS, these elements could not be described as " preparatory " to the launch of the work, and therefore not communicable according to the rules in force. Similarly, it notes that they " were not covered by the secrecy of private life " under the current state of the law. It concludes that the data produced by the HAS to the court "did not allow it to be considered that [their transmission] exposes these people to a risk to their security in the form of reprisals, nor that they would reveal behavior the disclosure of which would risk harming them . "
You have 53.96% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
lemonde
