THE FRENCH HURIET LAW ON THE PROTECTION O F PERSONS INVOLVED IN BIOMEDICAL-RESEARCH

The Huriet Law aimed at protection persons involved in biomedical rese arch was passed in France on December 20, 1988, and has been implement ed since late 1991. This law requires that studies be approved by revi ew committees. Requests for review have mainly involved drug trials, w hereas submissions for surgical procedures and biomedical materials ha ve been less numerous. The main problem with implementation of the Hur iet law has concerned investigations with no private sponsor : researc h institutions and hospitals are unable to fund many of their planned investigations. The Huriet law has already had significant positive ef fects, including better adherence to good clinical practice guidelines , compliance with consent requirements stated in the Declaration of He lsinki, and more satisfactory drug delivery in the hospital.