The Bioethical and Legal Research Database is a joint initiative of the Central European University (CEU) and the Public Understanding of Genetics in Europe (PUG) research project, financed by the European Commission Fifth framework Programme: Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources. (Contract number: QLG7-CT-2001-01668 )

The European Union project was launched to investigate the ways in which the wider public across Europe identifies the social, ethical and legal implications of new genetic technologies. One of the research areas within this EU project was an exploration of the legislative debates on genetics and genetic technologies in the participating European countries (France, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom).

The Hungarian team of the PUG project (Professor Judit Sándor, principal investigator and Eniko Demény, research assistant) initiated the creation of this Bioethical and Legal Research database to bring about a searchable archive of legal and normative documents. The home institution of the two researchers, the Central European University offered financial support for the creation of the database.

The database is expanding week by week to include laws, legal cases, professional guidelines and expert opinions published not only in the original seven European countries but also by international organizations, national governments, legislative bodies and NGOs throughout the world.

We hope that researchers, professors, students, lawyers, scientists, and policy makers will find this website useful in their work.