Genetic information in the system of objects of civil rights

Abstract

In the last few decades, issues related to the legal regulation of genetic research and the legal regime of genetic information derived from it have become particularly relevant both at the international level and at the level of individual countries. However, Russia has only recently come to realize the need for legislative regulation of the relevant relations. At the same time, a distinctive feature of such regulation is the emphasis on public-legal aspects, and civil-legal aspects have been left without due attention.The distinction between genetic information and genetic data is essential for the determination of the civil law regime of genetic information. Genetic information is personified genetic (genomic) information (information), because it has an individual, personal character as relating directly or indirectly to a particular or identifiable person. Genetic data is non-personalized (anonymized) genetic data, which are characterized by a formalized species, often contained in the information system and in this regard — systematized. Genetic information is an element of such an intangible good as the secret of private life, genetic data are, as a rule, an element of such a result of intellectual activity as a database. In addition, it is concluded that there is no doctrinal or legislative basis for the recognition of genetic information as an independent object of civil rights. The necessity of additional legislative regulation of activity of the biobanks carrying out storage of biomaterials, respectively, genetic data is proved. Genetic information contained in such biobanks should be subject to the legal regime of privacy.