• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.99-131
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• 2011

To strengthen the protection of human research subjects and human materials, the Korean Ministry of Health and welfare proposed the amendment bill of Bioethics and Safety Law(2010) to the Congress. It includes so many meaningful clauses. According to the bill, the scope that this act shall apply will be expended to the research involving human subjects and human materials. In the bill, there are the principles of this act; the protection of the life, health, and dignity of the human subjects, the obtaining of the adequate informed consent, the protection of the human subject's information confidentiality and the human subject's privacy, the assessment and minimizing of the risks involved and the guarantee of the safety for the human subjects, the preparation of the special protection program for the vulnerable human subjects, and so on. According to the bill, Institutional Bioethics Review Board(the same as Institutional Review Board) will be responsible for the auditing and monitoring on the research that was approved by IBRB, conducting the education program for the researchers, IBRB members and administrative staffs, preparing of the special protection program for the vulnerable human subjects, and forming the guidelines for the researchers as well as the review of the research protocols. And the State and local governments shall take necessary measures to support the expending of the social infrastructure. In addition to, IBRB will have to be assessed and to be gained the accreditation by the Korean Ministry of Health and welfare. So, if Bioethics and Safety Law is amended, it will contribute enormously to enhance the level of the human research subjects protection. Also, if this Law is amended, IBRB will play a major role for the conduct of the ethically, scientifically, and legally proper research. But now, as a matter of fact, the capability of IBRB members and IBRB office members is not enough to charge of this role because some people and some organizations does not know the importance of IBRB exactly. In spite of, IBRB shall be able to this role to protect the human subjects and to develop the level of the research On the international level. Therefore, the State, local governments and the Organization shall back up the administrative and financial terms of the IRB and IRB Office.