Netherlands

Legislation

• 2000 Personal Data Protection Act (Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens) www.dutchdpa.nl
• Dutch Civil Code
• Medical Treatment (Contract) Act (Wet inzake de geneeskundige behandelingsovereenkomst) Link to law (in Dutch). On duties (information, consent, medical confidentiality, good professional practice etc.) of caregivers in relation to the patients or clients they treat. Includes provisions on (secondary) collection and use of (personal) data and (anonymous) biological materials for scientific research, if obtained or removed from patients within the context of diagnosis or treatment.
• 1998 Medical Research involving Human Subjects Act (Wet medisch-wetenschappelijk onderzoek met mensen) Link to law. Covers medical scientific research in which people are subjected to interventions or have to follow established behavioural rules. However, the Central Committee on Research with individual Human Subjects concluded that this Act also covers the primary removal of tissue for storage in a biobank for general research purposes.