Introduction
The Data Protection Officer (DPO) or Legal Advisor is responsible for ensuring that federated learning activities comply with legal, regulatory, and ethical requirements — particularly those related to health data protection, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
In a federated learning context, personal data never leaves its source, but legal risks and responsibilities still exist. This role guides the interpretation and implementation of legal frameworks, conducts Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), and helps define the legal bases for data processing and model use.
Whether embedded in a healthcare institution, research consortium, or project governance team, the DPO/legal advisor ensures that privacy and accountability are built into the design of federated systems.
Key Responsibilities
- Interpret data protection regulations in the context of federated learning
- Define the legal basis for data use (e.g. public interest, research exemption)
- Conduct or advise on DPIAs and ethics approvals
- Draft or review data use agreements, consortium agreements, and model sharing terms
- Ensure data sovereignty principles are respected (data remains local)
- Monitor legal compliance over time, including partner responsibilities
- Advise on handling incidental findings, withdrawal of consent, or data access requests
- Collaborate with governance leads and infrastructure teams to align legal and technical safeguards
Common Challenges
- Translating GDPR principles to distributed, non-centralised processing models
- Determining when federated learning constitutes personal data processing
- Navigating differences in national laws and interpretations (especially in cross-border projects)
- Ensuring transparency, accountability, and auditability without breaching data minimisation
- Managing joint controllership, processor roles, and liability between partners
- Establishing durable governance once project funding ends
Recommended Tools & Resources
Legal Frameworks
- GDPR text (EU)
- European Data Protection Board (EDPB) Guidelines
- OECD Recommendation on Health Data Governance
Templates & Checklists
- DPIA templates tailored to FL (e.g. from EHDEN, TEHDAS, OpenMined)
- Federated participation and data transfer agreements
Ethics & Governance
Relevant FLKit Sections
- Plan & Govern: consent models, roles & responsibilities
- Enable Infrastructure: security and auditability
- Enhance & Wrangle Data: anonymisation, pseudonymisation
- Analyse Shared Data: compliance in model use and reuse
Training & Further Reading
- Legal Challenges of FL (OpenMined Blog)
- Sitra’s Guide to GDPR & Health Data Use
- DPIA guidance by UK ICO
Solution
- European Data Protection Supervisor’s “Preliminary opinion on Data Protection and Scientific Research”
- BBMRI-ERIC ELSI Knowledge Base contains governance templates and guidance for federated learning projects.
- Data Stewardship Wizard (DSW) can help establish governance frameworks for federated learning projects.
- FAIR Cookbook provides step-by-step recipes for data governance tasks.
- TeSS Training Portal offers training materials on data governance and management.
Related pages
More information
Links to FAIR Cookbook
FAIR Cookbook is an online, open and live resource for the Life Sciences with recipes that help you to make and keep data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable; in one word FAIR.
Links to DSW
With Data Stewardship Wizard (DSW), you can create, plan, collaborate, and bring your data management plans to life with a tool trusted by thousands of people worldwide — from data management pioneers, to international research institutes.
Training
Contributors
Editor
KU Leuven / University of UHasselt