Development of Court Practice in Cases Involving Human Genomics: World Experience and Russia

Abstract

The legal regulation of the area of human genomics covering both research in the area of human genome and activities carried out to implement their results in life, is today in the stage of development and is tightly linked to scientific progress in the area under consideration. In this regard, the analysis of judicial practice is an important indicator that allows the author to determine problematic practical issues of formation and development of legal regulation in the area under consideration. The best international jurisprudence and case law in the field of the human genome is sporadic and embodies the diversity of approaches to the legal regulation of these issues in different legal systems. If in the USA and Europe such judicial practice began to develop since the end of the twentieth century, in Russia the first case involving the genome was considered in the middle of the current decade, which generally corresponds to the catch-up dynamics of development of Russian law in the area in question. The paper is aimed at the study of the best jurisprudence in the world concerning genomic studies and implementation of their results, including the legal positions of the ECHR and the US courts, as well as the emerging practice of Russian courts. The paper covers judicial practice both in the field of genetic engineering and in the field of genomic information circulation. The paper analyzes specific cases in the area of human genomics dealt with in the course of judicial proceedings on both sides of the Atlantic. It also covers the issues of reflecting the genomic research in the practice of Russian courts, e.g. in Prosecutor Kemerovo v. IK-22. In addition, an attempt is made, on the basis of performed analysis, to identify differences in approaches to legal regulation in different legal systems.