This paper considers that this trade-off poses a dilemma and raises the question of how to achieve governance that promotes biotechnological innovation and research while protecting the fundamental rights and values of individuals and groups. The aim of this paper is to explore regulatory instruments in the EU Data Protection Law that can strike a balance between innovation and protection in the governance of human biodata. To this end, it focuses on meta-regulation as a regulatory technique and examines data protection impact assessment (DPIA) as a method for balancing innovation and protection. Based on doctrinal legal analysis, it argues that while DPIA is a useful instrument to seek a balance in this dilemma, further reflection and clarification are needed to improve the methods of conducting the impact assessment.
About the speaker
Esra Demir is a PhD candidate at the Erasmus School of Law and a junior fellow at Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Digital Governance. Her PhD project focuses on human biodata governance and explores, on the basis of a regulatory approach, the legal framework for human biodata with the dual aim of promoting biotechnological innovation and research and addressing the legal and ethical risks associated with the development, deployment and use of technologies. She is currently on a research stay at the Norwegian Research Centre for Computers and Law.
She completed her undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Law, Ankara University. She obtained her master’s degree in the field of public law from Galatasaray University Faculty of Law. Her master’s thesis was on ‘Molecular Genetic Examinations in Criminal Procedure Law’, which was published as a book in 2020. She has been a member of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations since 2017.