The concept of legal sub-regimes of human genetic information: Theoretical justification and problems of use

Abstract

We argue that the issue of the legal regime of human genetic information remains unresolved within the context of civil law doctrine. This is because such information generally represents a complex object of rights, which legal regime includes elements of other legal regimes distinct in nature. This latter circumstance reflects the so-called heterogeneity of the legal regime of genetic information. For the first time, by applying the concept of “legal sub-regime” by analogy, we attempt to conceptualize the legal regime of genetic information by dividing it into basic and negotiable sub-regimes. The reasons for the appropriate application of this concept are disclosed, and the principle of performance and structural configuration of legal sub-regimes of genetic information are briefly described. The work indicates the theoretical and legal limitations of using the concept of a legal sub-regime. It is concluded that a more thorough doctrinal elaboration of the content of each potential sub-regime will allow for the development of a general theoretical perspective on the legal regime of human genetic information as a whole.