CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Background
1.1
On 26 November 2010, the Senate referred the Patent Amendment
(Human Genes and Biological Materials) Bill 2010 (Bill) to the Senate Legal and
Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee (committee) for inquiry and report
by 16 June 2011. On 15 June 2011, the Senate granted an
extension of time for reporting until 25 August 2011. On
23 August 2011, the granted another extension of time for reporting
to 21 September 2011. The Bill was introduced into the Senate on
24 November 2010 by Senators Coonan, Heffernan, Siewert and Xenophon.[1]
The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Patents Act 1990 (Patents Act)
to prevent the patenting of human genes and biological materials existing in
nature.
1.2
The introduction of the Bill into the Senate followed a lengthy inquiry
into the impact of gene patents by the Senate Community Affairs References
Committee, which tabled its report, Gene Patents, on
26 November 2010. That report included a recommendation that the
Senate refer the Bill 'to the relevant Senate committee for inquiry and
report'.[2]
Conduct of the inquiry
1.3
The committee advertised the inquiry in The Australian newspaper,
and details of the inquiry, the Bill and associated documents were placed on
the committee's website. The committee also wrote to a number of organisations
and individuals, inviting submissions by 25 February 2011.
1.4
The committee received 122 submissions, which are listed at Appendix 1.
Public submissions were published on the committee's website.
1.5
The committee held two public hearings for the inquiry, which took place
on 28 and 29 April 2011 at Parliament House in Canberra. A
list of witnesses who appeared at the hearing is at Appendix 2, and copies of
the Hansard transcript are available online at https://www.aph.gov.au/hansard.
Acknowledgement
1.6
The committee thanks those organisations and individuals who made
submissions and gave evidence at the public hearings.
Scope of the report
1.7
The structure of this report is as follows:
- Chapter 2 provides a brief background to the introduction of
the Bill;
- Chapter 3 outlines the key provisions of the Bill;
- Chapter 4 discusses the key issues raised in submissions and
evidence; and
- Chapter 5 provides the committee's conclusions and
recommendations.
Note on references
1.8
References in this report are to individual submissions as received by
the committee, not to a bound volume. References to the committee Hansard
are to the proof Hansard. Page numbers may vary between the proof and
the official Hansard transcript.
Terminology
1.9
The committee notes that patent law, genetic science and health research
are areas which rely on specific and technical vocabularies. The committee's
report seeks to avoid unnecessary use of technical terms wherever possible.
Navigation: Previous Page | Contents | Next Page