Genetic diagnosis in austrian labour and insurance law and article 12 of the council of europe's biomedicine convention

Abstract

In 1994 the Austrian legislature enacted an Act on Gene Technology (Official Gazette 1994 No 510) that strictly limits the freedom to gather and to use data that have been collected by genetic analysis. The author compares the relevant provision (section 67 leg. cit.) with Article 12 of the Council of Europe’s Biomedicine Convention. He comes to the conclusion that section 67 of the Austrian Act on Gene Technology unduly restricts the rights of employers as well as of insurance companies.