Ethnic Origin and Disability Data Collection in Europe: Measuring Inequality – Combating Discrimination

This report from Open Society Foundations seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice in relation to the collection of disability and ethnic origin data in the EU. The report notes that there is a widely held belief that the law prohibits any collection of sensitive data pertaining to disability and ethnic origin; however, equality data can be collected in compliance with the exemptions enumerated in Article 8 of Directive 95/46/EC. Still, most EU Member States refuse to collect disaggregated equality data mainly because of a narrow interpretation of national data protection laws. At the same time, they collect data that reveal disability and ethnic origin on the basis of third-party identification and proxies. In general, disability and ethnic minority communities are not consulted on their data needs, and public debate on the issue is scarce.