title: Biobanking and Privacy Laws in Australia.
abstract: Australian biobanks are largely autonomous and funded by local health care institutions, although some biobanks also receive funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). There is no formal biobank legislation, but the NHMRC has developed biobanking guidelines. The regulation of biobanks is mainly through privacy laws and human research ethics committees. Australia is moving toward the use of broad consent for biobanking. International data sharing is permitted.
authors.affiliation: Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tasmania. He is a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. He has served as Chair of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Australian Health Ethics Committee from 1993 - 2000; the Commonwealth Gene Technology Ethics and Community Consultative Committee from 2002-2012; and the Australian Red Cross Ethics Committee 2000-2010. He has also served on many other medical and health bodies. His major research interests focus on medical research ethics and the regulatory aspects of genetics and biobanks.
authors.forename: Don
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chalmers
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D001315:Australia; D018070:Biological Specimen Banks / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003219:Confidentiality / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D036281:Genetic Research / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans