The workshop, which was held on the 8th of September at the premises of UNIVIE and online, convened BBMRI-ERIC (European Research Infrastructure for biobanking and biomolecular resources) team members and representatives from BBMRI.at partners for an exchange on the topic of IC. In the context of biobanking, IC, as is well known, can serve as a legal basis for data protection purposes and collection of biological samples as well as fulfil ethical requirements set in law or in good standards of practice.
BBMRI-ERIC has a dedicated team focusing on ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) related to biobanking, with IC having been the centre of many of the publications, trainings and activities by the team. UNIVIE, through the Department of Innovation and Digitalisation in Law (ID Law), is a partner of BBMRI.at, and manages a Legal Helpdesk supporting researchers and biobankers by providing guidance on legal matters relating to biobanking which also cooperates with the BBMRI-ERIC ELSI Helpdesk. BBMRI.at has a longstanding interest and contribution to the development and consolidation of IC practices in Austrian biobanks, and – as part of the work carried out by ID Law in the project – has organised activities on IC (e.g the Secondary Use of Data under the EHDS and Biobanking – What Is the Role and Impact of Broad Consent? The Austrian Case workshop).
The all-day agenda included comprehensive and open exchange on all sections of the document, focusing on topics such as making IC forms understandable to the widest-possible range of stakeholders, by focusing on language and structure of the documents, as well as legal, ethical and technical elements which must be communicated accurately in order to allow a truly autonomous, free and informed consent.
The ID Law team would like to thank the BBMRI-ERIC ELSI team for leading the day’s discussions, to the BBMRI.at management committee for supporting the initiative and to all attendees, who made the event a productive workshop!
Notice: BBMRI.at is funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research, grant number 2023-0.752.780 (2023-2028).
