CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ TWO DECADES OF THE CONVENTION ON BIOMEDICINE: HAS IT BEEN ANY GOOD? TWO DECADES OF THE CONVENTION ON BIOMEDICINE: HAS IT BEEN ANY GOOD? Petr Šustek 1 Abstract: Last year, the 20 th anniversary of the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine was celebrated (not only) across Europe. After its ratification in 2001, the Convention entered into force in the Czech Republic in the situation of a continuing paternalistic understanding of the physician-patient relationship and the corresponding legal regulation. While in many member states of the Council of Europe the content of the Convention already represented a consensual set of basic rules, Czech medical law had to undergo a deep change in order to comply with the Convention. After many particular amendments, the medical law reform peaked in the adoption of three reform acts and the new Civil Code in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The article can also be understood as a case study of the profound influence of an international law document on the development of national law in a specific area of regulation. Resumé: Minulý rok bylo (nejen) napříč Evropou slaveno dvacáté výročí Úmluvy o lid- ských právech a biomedicíně. Po své ratifikaci v roce 2001 Úmluva nabyla v České republice účinnosti v situaci pokračujícího paternalistického chápání vztahu lékaře a pacienta a od- povídající právní úpravy. Zatímco v mnoha státech Rady Evropy již představovala konsen- suální soubor základních práv, české zdravotnické právo muselo podstoupit výrazné změny, aby bylo s Úmluvou v souladu. Po množství konkrétních novelizací reforma zdravotnické- ho práva vyvrcholila přijetím tří reformních zákonů a nového občanského zákoníku v le- tech 2011 a 2012. Článek může být chápán také jako případová studie hlubokého vlivu me- zinárodněprávního dokumentu na vývoj vnitrostátního práva ve specifické oblasti úpravy. Key Words: the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, medical law, the Czech Republic. About the author: JUDr. Petr Šustek, Ph.D. , is a member of the Department of Civil Law and Coordinator of the Centre for Medical Law at the Faculty of Law, Charles University (Prague), and also a member of the Czech Republic Government’s Legislative Council and other bodies. His main area of interest lies in civil law – in general and medical law. Introduction The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine (also known as the Oviedo Convention; hereinafter “the Convention”) was initially signed by 21 European states 2 on 4 April 1997. In five countries, 3 the Convention came into force on 1 December 1999. Since 1 This paper was written with the support of the Charles University UNCE project no. 204051 “Human Rights Research Centre”. 2 These first signing states were Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Turkey. As we will see below, some of these states never ratified the Convention. 3 Denmark, Greece, San Marino, Slovak Republic, and Slovenia.

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