Research Ethics Committees, Data Protection and Medical Research in European Countries

D. Beyleveld is Professor of Law, Sheffield Institute of Biotechnological Law and Ethics, Department of Law, University of Sheffield, UK, D. Townend is at the Maastricht University, The Netherlands and J. Wright is at the Sheffield Institute of Biotechnological Law and Ethics, Department of Law, University of Sheffield, UK.

• Contents: Introduction, Deryck Beyleveld, David Townend and Jessica Wright; Research ethics committees in Austria, Peter Rehak; Belgian ethics committees and the protection of personal data, Guy Lebeer and Geneviève De Boeck; Research ethics committees in Bulgaria, Sylvia Tomova; Research ethics committees in the Czech Republic, Lukáš Prudil and Josef Kure; Research ethics committees in Denmark, Mary Rosenzweig and Lisbeth Knudsen; Research ethics in Estonia, Toomas Veidebaum; The general legal responsibility of research ethics committees in Finland, Lasse A. Lehtonen and Ritva Halila; The role of ethics committees in relation to French biomedical research: protection of the person and personal data, Brigitte Feuillet; Research ethics committees in Germany, Matthias Kettner; Research ethics committees in Greece, Tina Garanis-Papadatos and Dimitris Boukis; Research ethics committees in Hungary, Judit Sándor; Research ethics committees in Ireland, Deirdre Madden and Maeve McDonagh; Research ethics committees in Italy's legal system, Roberto Lattanzi; Research ethics committees in Latvia, Laima Rudze; Research ethics committees in Lithuania, Asta Cekanauskaite and Eugenijus Gefenas; Research ethics committees in Malta, Pierre Mallia; Medical research on human subjects and RECs in the Netherlands, Jessica Wright and Bert Gordijn; The Norwegian model for ethical review of medical research, Vigdis Kvalheim; Research ethics committees and personal data protection in Poland, Patrycja Bong-Polec and Pawel Luków; The constitution and operation of health ethics committees in Portugal: rights of patients to personal data protection, Helena Moniz, Sónia Fidalgo, Rafael Vale e Reis and Rosalvo Almeida; Bioethical review in Romania, Octavian Doaga; Research ethics committees in Slovakia, Jozef Glasa and Jane Miller; Research ethics committees in Slovenia, Joze Trontelj; Research ethics committees in Spain, Carlos Maria Romeo-Casabona and Pilar Nicolás; The Swedish system fo