The Cyprus National Bioethics Committee (CNBC) has adopted with very few changes the “Operational Guidelines for Ethics Committees that Review Biomedical Research” formulated by the World Health Organization, to form the basis of the operational guidelines for the establishment of ethics committees in reviewing biomedical research involving human subjects in Cyprus, which were enacted on 31.3.2005 (Κ.Δ.Π. 175/2005).
In accordance with the above operational guidelines and with the authority assigned to the Committee by the Law providing for the establishment and function of the National Bioethics Committee (L.150 (I)/2001), the Committee formed three Review Bioethics Committees:
I. The Review Bioethics Committee for Biomedical Research on Human Beings and their biological substances,
II. The Review Bioethics Committee for the clinical trials on Medicinal Products of Human Use and
III. The Review Bioethics Committee for Biomedical Research on Human Being and their biological substances and the clinical trials on Medicinal Products of Human Use (formed 18/03/2008).
The Review Bioethics Committees review protocols relating to:
· biomedical research on human beings and their biological substances
· clinical trials on Medicinal Products for human use, and,
· medical devices applied on human beings
The Role of the Review Bioethics Committees is to:
(1) Contribute to safeguarding the dignity, rights, safety and well-being of all actual or potential research participants.
(2) Provide independent, competent and timely review of the ethical aspects of proposed studies.
(3) Be responsible for carrying out the review of research proposal before the commencement of the research.
CNBC monitors, directs, coordinates, and reviews the work performed by the above three Review Bioethics Committees.
The Members of the Review Bioethics Committees are appointed for a period of two years.