Law Library of Congress Report on Selected Issues in Biotechnology Regulation

The Law Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. recently published a comparative report on Selected Issues in Biotechnology Regulation that looks at the main statutes and policies in multiple countries relating to the development of biotechnology products, in particular 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."

The Law Library of Congress is the world’s largest law library, with a collection of over 2 and a half million volumes from all ages of history and virtually every jurisdiction in the world.

Over the years, it has published dozens of comparative law reports which are a treasure trove for legal research on a huge variety of issues.