중국 생물안전법에 대한 연구 ― 문제점 및 해결방안 중심으로 ―

Abstract

Biotechnology has improved human health and survival in the areas of medicine, hygiene, agriculture, environmental protection, chemicals, food, health, and contributes to the economic development of the world by improving the production and quality of agriculture and industry. It is like a “double-edged sword” that also has negative issues such as biosafety issues, ethics and morals. In particular, biosafety can be understood as the concept of ‘biosafety’ in English or ‘biosecurity’ in terms of security, and the safety of genetically modified organisms and the management of diseases caused by infectious pathogens . It may also be called “national biosecurity” beyond biosecurity when it comes to economic losses, bioterrorism concerns, and biological weapons due to the prevalence of livestock disease. As such, biosafety concepts are used in different terms or scopes depending on the country, region, group, individual, or situation. Biosafety management agencies are generally private, corporate, local and central government. their main management targets are infectious diseases, pests, genetic modifications, invasive species, climate change and pollutants, and the scope of management is geographically ecosystem, region, country and world. In addition, it covers a wide range of fields such as society, culture, environment and hygiene. Thus, neglect of biosafety can spread beyond communities or countries and, in serious cases, to the whole world. Since the 1990s, China has published normative documents in the form of laws, regulations and executive orders on biosafety, and enacted laws and regulations on biosafety issues brought on by bioeconomic development. However, unlike the advanced biosafety countries, China's biosafety legislation has not yet reached that level, and existing laws and regulations lack the actual biosafety demand. As is well known, WHO declared Pandemic on March 11, 2020 for the Corona 19 (COVID-19), and the world suffered serious damage. These significant biosafety issues are characterized by diversity, wide area, collectiveity, dissemination, fatality, and complexity. Due to these characteristics, a considerable amount of scientific knowledge and experience is required to effectively prevent and solve biosafety problems, and at the same time, related legal systems, management systems, and systems need to be structured as simple as possible, avoiding duplication. The main issue of China's biosafety laws and regulations is that the Chinese civil law system has a legislative form focusing on single law. Individual laws are mainly oriented to mediation, so there are inconsistency, non-cooperation, or ambiguity in the content of related laws and regulations. This has had an impact on the management system in relation to biosafety, especially the central and local complex reporting system, the inefficiency of local governments' first aid measures, the non-existence of information disclosure, and the lack of judicial system. By enacting the Biosafety Act, China will improve the structural deficiencies of the current Chinese biosafety law system, establish an effective legal system to adjust the regulations related to biosafety, and improve the existing complex and redundant management system in the central and local government. It is expected to strengthen the judicial function by promoting the three-dimensional and rapid cooperation.