This deliverable, prepared by Work Package 2, describes the governance and legal compliance framework underpinning the EPND Hub, the platform's core offering to the neurodegeneration research community.

The report provides a detailed account of the EPND Hub's end-to-end data access workflow, covering dataset hosting, discovery, access requests, permissioning, and analysis. Dataset providers can choose between centralised, federated, or distributed analysis modalities, with all hosting restricted to EU-based servers. To reduce the administrative burden on contributing organisations, the University of Maastricht has been designated as the access permissioning intermediary for datasets generated through EPND case studies. This approach has been piloted successfully with the first composite case study dataset, made available through the EPND Hub in May 2025. The EPND Hub also supports biosample collection discovery and access requests, a capability not currently offered by the integrated AD Workbench infrastructure.

The report traces how the access governance framework has evolved over the course of the project, and includes an analysis of the recently adopted European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation and its implications for the EPND. As the project enters its final year, a dedicated legal entity is being established to ensure the EPND Hub and its services remain operational beyond 2026.

For more information, find the full “White Paper V2” here.