The following is a guest post by Gustavo Guerra, a foreign law specialist at the Law Library of Congress. He has previously published Cuban Law – Global Legal Collection Highlights, Mexican Law – Global Legal Collection Highlights, Legislation on Use of Water in Agriculture, and FALQs: Cuban Legal System.
In November 2023, the Law Library of Congress published a report titled “Selected Issues in Biotechnology Regulation,” which provides an overview of the main statutes and policies that govern certain aspects of the development of biotechnology products, particularly those derived from genetically modified organisms.
The jurisdictions reviewed are Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, England, the European Union (EU), Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, and Taiwan, all of which have a variety of official sources (including laws, regulations, and policies) governing biotechnology matters.
A number of these sources provide definitions of relevant terms in this field, including “genetic engineering” and “genetically modified organisms,” which are included in the study. Due to the technical complexity of these topics, a basic understanding of these definitions is a helpful introduction to each surveyed jurisdiction’s framework on biotechnologies. Multilateral and bilateral agreements addressing international cooperation on the development of these technologies are also covered in this survey.
This report is part of the Law Library’s Legal Reports collection, prepared by staff and foreign law specialists from the Global Legal Research Directorate. The collection includes over 4,000 historical and contemporary legal reports on a variety of legal subjects.
Read the report, here.
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