Authored by: Zhang Yunwei (Mark) , Yang Fan , Li Lingbi , Qian Heng and Wu Yiting
The Administrative Regulations of the PRC on Human Genetic Resources (the “HGR Regulations”) promulgated by the State Council of the PRC, has been in effect for more than three years. The HGR Regulations scrutinize all activities in connection with the human genetic resources (the “HGR”) within the territory of the PRC from upstream collection of HGR materials to downstream exploitation and sharing of the HGR materials and the information derived therefrom. On 4 March 2022 and 15 April 2022, the Ministry of Science and Technology of the PRC (the “MOST”), which is the authorized governmental authority to supervise and administer the HGR practice in China, published two notices (the “Q&A Notices”) summarizing its official responses to certain questions on practical issues regarding the filing/approval applications under the HGR Regulations. We summarized some key takeaways of the HGR filing/application practice in China from our experience under the HGR Regulations and the Q&A Notices in two separate articles. This Part A mainly focuses on how to identify the related parties (especially the foreign entities) which may be involved in the Chinese HGR activities, while Part B of this series will focus on how to identify HGR materials under the HGR Regulations.