CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ TWO DECADES OF THE CONVENTION ON BIOMEDICINE: HAS IT BEEN ANY GOOD? “[the Convention covers] a large number of different policy areas which are covered by a mixture of the United Kingdom legislation and common law and some of the relevant policy areas are within the competence of the devolved administration”. 53 The argument of unprepared national legislation is therefore reinforced by the devolution, i.e. the competence of Scottish, Northern Irish, Welsh, and London legislative bodies. These worries regarding the necessary changes in national law are accompanied by the will to keep the United Kingdom’s relatively liberal legislation of biomedical research (for example, had it ratified the Convention, the United Kingdom could not have become the world’s first country to legalise the mitochondrial replacement therapy, i.e. the creation of the so-called “three-parent babies” 54 ). 55 Another country that never signed the Convention is Belgium. Like the United Kingdom, Belgium rejects the Convention as too restrictive of an instrument. It should be noted that the then Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health Laurette A. J. Onkelinx stated in 2013 that the country’s legislation “[was] more advanced [than the Convention] on various points” , 56 meaning that it was more progressive, in other words more liberal. There are also critiques from the opposite position. Italy was one of the original signatory states and its Parliament agreed to the ratification in 2001. However, Italy has not yet ratified the Convention. More precisely, the ratification was authorised by the Parliament in 2001, but the Italian president has never conveyed the ratification instrument to the Council of Europe. 57 The country’s establishment is not very sure about acceptance of the relatively liberal Convention by the relatively conservative Italian public. 58 There is a slightly paradoxical situation when the principles of the Convention are considered a part of the general principles of Italian law and the courts refer to the Convention in their reasoning. 59 Nevertheless, the absence of the Convention in Italian law was, for example, responsible 53 Lord Patten’s answer to the written question – HL5536. (23 March 2015.) accessed 6 June 2018. 54 See the following paper in this issue of the Czech Yearbook of Public & Private International Law: ŠOLC, Martin. Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy in the Light of the Convention on Biomedicine: A Discriminatory Practice? 55 See Jan Malíř’s presentation titled “Legitimita a autorita Úmluvy dvacet let poté” [“Legitimacy and Authority of the Convention After Twenty Years.”] at the conference Twenty Years of the Convention on Biomedicine; the presentation is available at . 56 “Notre législation est plus avancée sur divers points.” Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health Laurette A. J. Onkelinx’s answer to the written question 5-10177. (20 November 2013.) accessed 6 June 2018. 57 See FOGLIA, Massimo. Consenso e cura. La solidarietà nel rapporto terapeutico. [The Consent and the Cure. Solidarity in the Therapeutic Relationship.] G. Giappichelli Editore, Torino 2018, p. 43, and Jan Malíř’s presentation titled “Legitimita a autorita Úmluvy dvacet let poté” [“Legitimacy and Authority of the Convention After Twenty Years.”] at the conference Twenty Years of the Convention on Biomedicine; the presentation is available at . 58 See Governo e Parlamento. Bioetica. Cnb chiede ratifica della Convenzione di Oviedo. [Bioethics. CNB Calls for Ratification of the Oviedo Convention.] (31 May 2012.) accessed 6 June 2018. 59 See FOGLIA, Massimo. Consenso e cura. La solidarietà nel rapporto terapeutico. [The Consent and the Cure. Solidarity in the Therapeutic Relationship.] G. Giappichelli Editore, Torino 2018, p. 43, and Jan Malíř’s presentation titled “Legitimita a autorita Úmluvy dvacet let poté” [“Legitimacy and Authority of the Convention After Twenty Years.”] at the conference Twenty Years of the Convention on Biomedicine; the presentation is available at .

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