Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine

Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Human Dignity with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine
Short title:	Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine
Title (engl.):	Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine
Date:	April 4, 1997
Come into effect:	Dec 1, 1999
Reference:	ETS No. 164
Contract type:	Multinational
Legal matter:	health
Signing:	34
Ratification :	29 Current status
Germany:	-
Liechtenstein:	-
Austria:	-
Switzerland:	Ratification (July 24, 2008)
Please note the note on the applicable contract version .

The Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine of the Council of Europe is an international treaty which was opened for signature in Oviedo on April 4, 1997 and entered into force on December 1, 1999. The convention is also known as the bioethics convention , the biomedical convention or the Oviedo convention .

Objective and scope

The aim of the Biomedical Convention is to ensure that the application of biology and medicine protects the dignity and identity of all human beings. The biomedical convention aims to ensure a minimum standard for the protection of human dignity and human rights in Europe in the field of biomedicine. It specifies and develops the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) for the field of biology and medicine.

Its scope extends to human medicine, including transplant medicine (including xenotransplantation), to genetic engineering processes in the human area and to reproductive medicine in humans. It includes preventive, diagnostic or therapeutic measures and research on humans.

Signature and ratification

General

On April 4, 1997, the Biomedical Convention was opened for signature in Oviedo. It came into force on December 1, 1999 after ratification by 5 contracting parties. Of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe, 34 have so far signed the Biomedical Convention and 26 have also ratified it.

German-speaking countries

Switzerland signed the Biomedical Convention on May 7, 1999. On September 12, 2001, the Federal Council asked the Swiss Parliament to approve the ratification. The permit was approved more than six years later on March 20, 2008. After the unused referendum period had expired, Switzerland ratified the Biomedical Convention on July 24, 2008 as the last contracting party to date.

Germany, Liechtenstein and Austria have so far neither signed nor ratified.

Additional protocols

The Biomedical Convention is a framework convention which as such contains the most important principles. Additional protocols based on this should contain additional and more detailed regulations. The Biomedical Convention is thus an international agreement that can be continuously expanded. Only contracting parties who have already signed or ratified the Biomedical Convention are entitled to sign or ratify an additional protocol.

So far there are four additional protocols for signature and ratification:

• Additional Protocol of January 12, 1998 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Human Dignity with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine on the Prohibition of Cloning Human Living Organisms (ETS No. 168) . It came into force on March 1, 2001. So far 32 member states of the Council of Europe have signed the Additional Protocol and 21 have additionally ratified it.
• Additional Protocol of January 24, 2002 to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine with regard to the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (ETS No. 186) . It came into force on May 1, 2006. So far, 21 member states of the Council of Europe have signed the Additional Protocol and 12 have additionally ratified it.
• Additional Protocol of January 25, 2005 to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, Regarding Biomedical Research (ETS No. 195) . It came into force on September 1, 2007. So far, 22 member states of the Council of Europe have signed the Additional Protocol and 7 member states have additionally ratified it.
• Additional Protocol of November 27, 2008 to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine with regard to Genetic Tests for Health Purposes (ETS No. 203) . So far, 6 member states of the Council of Europe have signed the additional protocol, but only 2 of them have ratified it (as of August 12, 2009). The protocol only comes into force after 5 ratifications (including 4 member states).

literature

• Federal Ministry of Justice: The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Human Dignity with a View to the Application of Biology and Medicine - Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine - of the Council of Europe of April 4, 1997 . Information on the history of development, objectives and content, Bonn 1998.
• Albin Eser (ed.): Biomedicine and human rights. The Council of Europe's Convention on Human Rights on Biomedicine - Documentation and Commentary. Verlag Josef Knecht , Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-7820-0825-1 .
• Lars Klinnert: The dispute over the European bioethics convention. For church and social debate about humane biomedicine. Edition Ruprecht, Göttingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-7675-7098-6 .
• C. Koenig et al.: Inventory and need for action with regard to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Human Dignity with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine and its Additional Protocols . Legal opinion on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Bonn 2003.
• G. Sprügel: Bioethics Convention and Research Access to Humans. Pahl-Rugenstein, Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-89144-265-3 .

Web links

• Original text (PDF; 354 ​​kB)
• Non-official information portal on the bioethics convention (biomedical convention) of the Council of Europe with convention text and additional protocols, statements, press reviews, literature, etc.

swell

1. ↑ http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/ff/2002/271.pdf Bundesblatt (BBl) 2002 271
2. ↑ http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/as/2008/5137.pdf Official collection (AS) 2008 5137
3. ↑ Signatures and ratification status CETS No. 168
4. ↑ Signatures and ratification status CETS No. 186
5. ↑ Signatures and ratification status CETS No. 195
6. ↑ Signatures and ratification status CETS No. 203