Conferences of European ethics committees under the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union

In the context of the German Presidency of the European Council, from 23 to 25 May 2007 the National Ethics Council will be hosting meetings of the
European Conference of National Ethics Committees (COMETH) and the Forum of
National Ethics Councils (NEC Forum), as well as the joint sessions to be held with the
European Group on Ethics in Sciences and New Technologies (EGE).
These meetings will not be open to the public.

In view of the breakneck pace of advances recorded in the last few decades especially in the life sciences, and of the increasing internationalization of research, it is essential to reach a consensus on ethical standards for research not only in national legislations but also at supranational level. National ethics committees have been established in many European countries since the 1980s, their principal remit being to advise on policy, to promote public discourse and to exchange experience and work together with other national ethics bodies. Over the last fifteen years, the process of achieving multilateral, Europe-wide mutual understanding has taken on a momentum of its own. In the vanguard of the international discourse is COMETH, the Conference of National Ethics Committees set up by the Council of Europe, which met for the first time in Madrid in 1992. Another platform for exchanges of experience between countries is the NEC Forum of EU Member States, which has held regular twice yearly meetings since 2003.

One subject on the agenda of the Ninth Conference of National Ethics Committees (COMETH) on 23 May is the theoretical and practical role of advisory bodies on ethics in democratic societies. A new chairperson for COMETH is also due to be elected.

The chairs and secretaries respectively of the ethics councils of the EU Member States will meet in the context of the Ninth NEC Forum on 24 and 25 May. They will discuss the potential for cooperation within the European Research Area under the conditions of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme for Research. The main issue addressed in the largest group of papers and discussions will be Governance and Ethics. Attention will focus on the dual role of the scientist as both researcher and entrepreneur, and the participants will in addition exchange views about the effect of differing national legislations on the practice of artificial insemination and about questions of enhancement.

The three-day conference programme also includes meetings between COMETH and the NEC Forum, between the EGE and the NEC Forum and between the EGE and the German National Ethics Council. The COMETH-NEC Forum meeting will address issues of brain research and the limits of scientific interpretation of human thought and action, as well as the boundary between medical and social problems. Unlike COMETH and the NEC Forum, the EGE is not a platform of national ethics committees, but the European Commission's advisory body on ethical matters. Its members are not delegates of their countries, but are personally selected by the President of the European Commission as experts. The joint EGE-NEC Forum meeting will focus on issues of scientific integrity and scientific publication. Together with the National Ethics Council the EGE will discuss questions of organ transplants and organ shortages as well as of biobanks.

Programme