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The key points paper on the Research Data Act published by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has met with a generally positive response from the German Data Forum (Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten, RatSWD). In a statement, the German Data Forum emphasises the importance of improved access to research data for science in Germany and makes proposals for its implementation.

In its position paper published today, the German Data Forum (RatSWD) welcomes the public consultation process on the BMBF's Research Data Act. In addition to the statement of the RatSWD, numerous statements were received from various stakeholders from science, business and civil society. This underlines the need for a research data law to improve science's access to data.

The Council for Social and Economic Data (RatSWD) published its position paper "Cornerstones for a Research Data Act". In it, the RatSWD primarily calls for improved access for the scientific community to register and administrative data as well as the safeguarding of the confidentiality of research data.

For the 20th legislative period of the German Bundestag, the German Data Forum (Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten, RatSWD) calls for better access to (research) data for scientific and research purpose. It does so by defining seven specific fields of action in its recent position paper "Strengthening data-based research in Germany". Profound research data is indispensable for politics, since evidence-based decisions can only be made on the basis of scientific findings.

The German Data Forum (RatSWD) accredited four new research data centres (FDZ) at its 55th meeting: the DeZIM.fdz, the IOER Monitor, the GePaRD Database, and the SAFE-FDZ. The DeZIM.fdz offers a comprehensive range of data on migration and integration. The IOER Monitor provides small-scale geo-data. The GePaRD database allows for the analysis of health insurance billing data. The SAFE-FDZ allows for interdisciplinary, historical research into financial markets. At its 55th meeting, the German Data Forum (RatSWD) also discussed ways to optimise access to police crime statistics, judicial statistics, and other data from criminal research in order to to support the broader research field.

On 23-24 June 2016, the German Data Forum (Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten, RatSWD) met with relevant stakeholders for a dialogue on the future development of national and international research infrastructures. There was a consensus that existing structures should be closely tied into future coordination efforts. Specific solutions for certain disciplines should not be replaced by generic approaches and any national activities should be made internationally compatible from the onset.

The German Data Forum (RatSWD) welcomes the Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastrukur (NFDI) entering its initiation phase.
The long term national research data infrastructure project, will contribute to expanding access to high-quality research data in accordance with the FAIR principles and to strengthen sustainable research data management. It will also strengthen interdisciplinary empirical research on pressing social issues. By launching KonsortSWD and building on its recognised expertise, the German Data Forum (RatSWD) and its partners plan on jointly contributing to the NFDI.

Anonymisation of personal data and the informed consent by participants of scientific studies were the two main topics of the 18th meeting of the FDI Committee of the German Data Forum (Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten, RatSWD) on 26 April in Berlin. The meeting made concrete the ways in which the EU General Data Protection Regulation affects the day-to-day business of research data centres (RDCs). The FDI Committee plans to accelerate efforts to increase cooperation between the 31 RDCs accredited by RatSWD until 2020, which aim to optimise the data and services RDCs provide to researchers. This includes expanding the RDC network. Two RDCs, which are currently in the set-up phase, presented themselves at the meeting: the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) and eLabour.

The German Data Forum has published its second comprehensive report on the activities of its accredited research data centres (RDCs): at the end of 2016, RDCs had made a total of 3,214 datasets accessible to science and research. They employed 225.7 people (full-time equivalents) and supported the research of 26,281 data users. With their extensive service portfolios, the RDCs provide essential support services to researchers in the empirical social, behavioural and economic sciences. The report gives an overview of quality assurance measures, RDC services as well as their in-house research activities.