COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION of 30 June 1982 concerning the registration of work involving recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) (82/472/EEC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 235 thereof,

Having regard to the draft recommendation submitted by the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2),

Whereas the development of fundamental and applied biological research is such as to contribute to the economic expansion of the Member States ; whereas this implies, in several sectors, that recombinant DNA work will be performed on certain organisms;

Whereas the risks associated with work involving recombinant DNA are of a conjectural nature ; whereas a permanent inventory within each Member State is necessary to allow the possible imposition of protection measures and, in the very unlikely event of conjectural hazards proving real, to trace the origin of any deleterious effects that may arise;

Whereas a continual analysis of the situation in each Member State must be undertaken in order to promote in the case where unforeseen developments so require, both the establishment of lists of work which ought to be banned or subjected to compulsory safety measures in all Member States and the harmonization of national provisions;

Considering the complexity of the problem posed by the conjectural risks of certain types of work involving recombinant DNA, the rapid developments in the understanding of this problem, the extension of the research sector concerned and the importance that must be attached to the consideration of local circumstances when assessing the hazards involved in performing scientific work;

Whereas it is necessary, in order to safeguard scientific and industrial secrecy and to protect intellectual property, to minimize the dissemination of the substance of experimental protocols prepared for the execution of the work as well as the dissemination of the substance of research projects based on the production and utilization of recombinant DNA,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS TO THE MEMBER STATES:

that they adopt all laws, regulations and administrative provisions in order that: >PIC FILE= "T0021859"> (1) OJ No C 66, 15.3.1982, p. 112. (2) OJ No C 353, 31.12.1980, p. 19.

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Done at Luxembourg, 30 June 1982.

For the Council

The President

Ph. MAYSTADT