Balancing of Individual Rights and Research Interests in Danish Biobank Regulation

AbstractDenmark offers very good opportunities for biobank research. There is a vast number of well-structured and comprehensive collections of biological material, which in combination with a ‘research generous’ legislation provides an excellent environment for biobank research. However, both the Danish biobank landscape and the regulatory environment is rather complex. In contrast to a number of other countries, there is no specific biobank act in Denmark. Instead, various regulatory regimes interact, which makes it challenging to navigate in the legal landscape. It is also rather non-transparent for the individuals, from whom samples have been collected, what samples are used for, and how they can influence the use of samples for research. With the GDPR and the Danish Data Protection Act it seems that research participants’ rights have been slightly weakened in Danish law. However, it is argued, that the GDPR has the potential to ensure more awareness of research participants right against the societal and scientific interest in research.