European Parliament reviews cross-border healthcare rules: what it could mean for children with cancer
The European Parliament is considering changes to cross-border healthcare rules that could improve access to care and clinical trials for children and adolescents with cancer. CCI Europe and SIOP Europe are advocating for stronger rules that better reflect the needs of children and families who need care across borders.
In July 2026, the European Parliament’s Committee on Public Health (SANT) released a draft legislative initiative report calling on the European Commission to modernise the rules on patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare, currently set out in Directive 2011/24/EU. A “legislative initiative report” is a formal tool the European Parliament uses to ask the European Commission to draft a new law or revise an existing one. Under EU rules, only the Commission can formally propose legislation. The Rapporteur leading this report is MEP Giorgos Georgiou (The Left, Cyprus).
Why should this Directive be revised?
Directive 2011/24/EU, adopted in 2011, was meant to make it easier for patients to access healthcare in another EU country and be reimbursed for it. Over a decade later, a recent European Parliament briefing found that the Directive remains legally significant but underused: patients still face fragmented information, complex and slow authorisation procedures, and poor awareness of their rights under EU law. Crucially, the Directive has never been updated to reflect how care is actually delivered today : it says nothing about access to clinical trials, and does not account for the practical and financial burden faced by families who must relocate abroad to access specialised treatment.
Why does it matter for children with cancer?
These gaps are particularly important for children and adolescents with cancer. Because childhood cancers are rare and complex diseases, no single country can offer the full range of specialised care, clinical trials and innovative therapies on its own. For children with relapsed or hard-to-treat cancers, a clinical trial abroad is often the only remaining treatment option. Yet under the current rules, families face unclear procedures, unpredictable costs, and no guarantee of support when they are forced to seek this care in another country. Modernising the Directive is therefore an opportunity to finally close this gap and ensure that no child’s chances of survival depend on which country they happen to live in.
What is CCI Europe and SIOP Europe calling for?
CCI Europe and SIOP Europe are advocating for stronger EU rules that better reflect the needs of children with cancer and their families. In their joint position paper, the organisations call for access to clinical trials to be included in the rules, stronger protection of the social rights of families receiving cross-border care, and dedicated national “navigator” services to help families understand and access care across borders.
The joint position paper sets out proposed amendments to the draft report and has been shared with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and other stakeholders involved in the process. CCI Europe and SIOP Europe will continue to advocate for changes that improve access to care, clinical trials and innovation for children and young people with cancer across Europe.
What happens next?
2 September 2026 : The draft report is presented to MEPs in the SANT Committee.
10 September 2026 : Deadline for MEPs to table amendments to the report.
December 2026 : Vote in the SANT Committee.
February 2027 : Vote in the European Parliament’s plenary session.
Once adopted, the report will be sent to the European Commission, which will then assess whether to revise the rules on cross-border healthcare. If it chooses not to, it will be required to explain why.