Status of Ethics Committee in Biomedical Technolo-gies in Iran And France

The Bioethics Committee is an interdisciplinary body com-posed of several experts from different disciplines (mainly medicine, genetics, law, psychiatry, theology, ethics and phi-losophy) that follows progress in the life sciences and its appli-cations in order to ensure respect for human dignity and human rights. The organizational structure, the duties and functions of the Ethics Committees would vary from one country to another. This paper studies the Biomedicine Ethics Committee, in par-ticular in the area of artificial reproduction technologies, in Iran and France. We first discuss the status of ethical concerns in biomedicine legislation in Iran and France, as well as the major differences between Islamic ethics and Western secular ethics. Subsequently, specific laws and regulations regarding the or-ganizational structure, function and role of the ethics commit-tee in biomedical technologies in Iranian and French law are discussed.France was the first country to create a National Consultative Ethics Committee. The National Consultative Ethics Committee for health and life sciences (CCNE) was established in France on February 23, 1983, and played an important and effective role from the beginning. The mission of CCNE is to provide advisory opinions on the ethical and social issues raised in the field of bi-ology, medicine and health and to hold public debates within the framework of the legislation review in this area.In Iran, the National Ethics Committee for Biomedical Re-search, affiliated to the Ministry of Health and Medical Educa-tion, started its activities in 1998. This committee is responsi-ble for preparing and issuing guidelines and codes of practice concerning biomedical research activities, monitoring their implementation, handling complaints raised in this area, and is-suing licenses of regional ethics committees (Article 3, regula-tion 2013). Academic and organizational ethics committees are formed under the supervision of the National Ethics Commit-tee. However, non-research activities (as therapeutic activities) are beyond the scope of regulatory provisions on ethics com-mittee in the country.This comparative study shows the importance of ethics com-mittees in two legal systems. Despite their differences, French law provides more comprehensive provisions regarding bio-medicine ethics committee especially in term of scope of func-tioning. However, Iranian Ethics committee for Biomedical Re-search operates on a more binding basis than the French CCNE. The legislative gap or deficiencies in most areas of biomedical activities including infertility treatment in Iranian law point out the crucial need for establishment of national ethics committee for non-research activities also.

Keywords:

Biomedicine , Comparative Law , Ethics Committee , Islamic Ethics , Western Ethics.