의학연구를 위한 인체유래물 기증계약의 법적성격

The Legal Characteristics of the Donation Contract of Human Materials for Medical Research

At present, the demand and utility of human materials has increased rapidly, and the field of application has also diversified. On the other hand, the risk of illegal transactions and leakage of personal information has increased. Therefore, from the stage of contracting, systematic legal system and supervision over ‘human material donation and research’ are needed. Based on this scientific situation, this paper reviewed the legal issues related to donation of human materials and examined the legal characteristics of the donation contract. Through this study, the author confirmed that donation of human materials for medical research is a contract in which the donor grants authority to study human materials to the researcher for for public interest . This contract was the closest to the mandate of the typical contract in the civil law, and was closely related to the medical contract in particular. The legal issues and theories reviewed in this paper are as follows. The legal status of the human materials is the quasi state of human body and the dead body is the quasi state of the body when he was alive . Both 「Bioethics and Safty Law」, 「Declaration of Helsinki」, 「French Law on Respect for Human Body」, and ｢US Common Rules｣ identify donating human materials as granting authority to study human materials rather than transferring ownership . The legal characteristics of ‘the donation contract of human materials’ can be identified as a quasi-mandate contract as an atypical contract close to a medical contract. In a mandate contract, the interests of the mandator should be sought but In a the donation contract of human materials, Public interest should be sought. Therefore in the future, it is necessary to establish a unique contract system considering the characteristics of the donation of human materials .