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Resolution 1934 (2013) Final version
Ethics in science and technology
1. The Parliamentary Assembly observes
that, within the context of growing global economic competition, the
political and economic pressures on science and technology to continually
innovate, and to accelerate and facilitate economic success can
collide with ethical concerns and could lead to a lowering of the
standards needed to prevent the hazards of scientific and technological
research and fully protect human dignity. At the same time, the
increasing complexity of science and technology – through their
growing convergence and interdependence, and the way they interact
with society – is making it difficult to accurately foresee and
assess their long-term consequences.
2. Therefore, the Assembly holds that more concerted ethical
consideration should be given – at national, supraregional and global
levels – to the goals and purposes pursued by science and technology,
to the instruments and methods they employ, to their possible consequences
and side effects, and to the overall system of rules and behaviour
within which they operate.
3. The Assembly believes that having a permanent structure for
ethical reflection at the global level would make it possible to
address ethical issues as a “moving target”, rather than fixing
an “ethical code”, and enable a periodic re-questioning of even
basic assumptions, such as the definition of “human identity” or
“human dignity”.
4. The Assembly welcomes the initiative of UNESCO in setting
up the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and
Technology (COMEST) with a view to engaging in ongoing ethical reflection
and exploring the possibilities of drafting and periodically reviewing
a set of fundamental ethical principles based on the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. It believes that the Council of Europe should contribute
to this process.
5. In this respect, the Assembly recommends that the Secretary
General of the Council of Europe consider establishing a flexible
and informal structure for ethical reflection, through co-operation
between relevant Assembly committees and members of relevant expert
committees, including the Committee on Bioethics (DH-BIO), with
a view to identifying emerging ethical issues and main ethical principles
that could guide political and legal action in Europe.
6. To reinforce the common European framework of ethics in science
and technology, the Assembly recommends that member States, which
have not yet done so, sign and ratify the Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application
of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine
(ETS No. 164, “Oviedo Convention”) and its protocols and fully engage
in the work of the Committee on Bioethics.
7. Furthermore, the Assembly recommends that the Council of Europe
member States:
7.1. extend ethical
reflection and assessment to all fields of research, using the experience
gained in the field of bioethics;
7.2. entrust the competent bodies to draft guidelines outlining
general ethical principles to be applied in all areas of scientific
research, and more detailed national codes on research ethics to
be applied to specific fields, including social sciences and humanities;
7.3. consider ethical reflection and the assessment of scientific
research and technological development as priorities and allocate
adequate administrative support and funding to the advisory and monitoring
institutions, while guaranteeing their independence;
7.4. where necessary, reform existing procedures and structures
to harmonise ethical rules and streamline monitoring procedures;
7.5. where necessary, review and reform existing rules in the
evaluation system of professional achievements of scientists to
eliminate elements in the evaluation system which could reward non-ethical
behaviour (such as violations of the rights of intellectual property,
plagiarism, manipulation of scientific data, “artificial multiplying”
of scientific achievements, for example by means of “dismembered” publishing
of results);
7.6. encourage the setting up of more committees on research
ethics at the level of universities, hospitals and other medical
establishments in order to enhance the understanding and application
of ethical principles and related legislation among students and
researchers;
7.7. endeavour to ensure that courses in all scientific disciplines
include obligatory modules on ethical reflection in science and
technology;
7.8. increase the capacity of researchers and scientists to
deal with ethical issues in their work through awareness raising
and dedicated education;
7.9. introduce, in the secondary education curricula, opportunities
to initiate deeper critical thinking on some fundamental issues
related to science and technology, including the definition of “human”
and the place of human beings in relation to nature;
7.10. facilitate wide public debates on ethical issues emerging
from scientific research and the development of new technologies.
8. Referring to its Resolution
1870 (2012) on the need for independent and credible
expert assessments, the Assembly recommends that all Council of
Europe member States reconsider the existing protocols and control
mechanisms concerning independent scientific and technical assessments
of risks to human health and the environment, and improve them as
appropriate, in particular to:
8.1. prevent
new processes from being implemented and new products from being
commercialised without sufficient guarantees concerning their safety
for human health and the environment;
8.2. prevent conflicts of interest and ensure the highest reliability
of results, inter alia by
measures allowing sufficient lapses of time for the assessment of
long-term risks;
8.3. ensure the highest transparency and independence of scientific
and technical assessment, inter alia by
introducing an assessment traceability system and by setting up
a public fund to finance “sensitive” expert assessments.
9. The Assembly calls on national parliaments to develop their
own scientific and technological capacity assessment and increase
the involvement of the public in political decision making as regards
scientific and the relevant technological choices, and regulation.
The parliaments are also invited to take an active part in the European
Parliamentary Technology Assessment (EPTA) network.
10. The Assembly invites the European Union and UNESCO to co-operate
with the Council of Europe to reinforce the common European framework
of ethics in science and technology and, to this end:
10.1. create European and regional
platforms to regularly exchange experiences and best practice covering
all fields of science and technology, using the experience acquired
in the framework of the European Conference of National Ethics Committees
(COMETH) initiated by the Council of Europe, and more recently the
Forum of National Ethics Councils (NEC Forum) funded by the European
Commission, and the meetings of the Council of Europe Committee
on Bioethics;
10.2. draft and periodically review a set of fundamental ethical
principles to be applied to all fields of science and technology;
10.3. provide further guidance to help member States harmonise
ethical rules and monitoring procedures, building on the positive
impact of ethical requirements under the European Commission’s Seventh
Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (2007-2013)
(FP7).