A Symposium on Biobanks and Biomedical Collections - An ethical framework for future research, organised by the Committee on Bioethics (DH-BIO), was held in Strasbourg on 19-20 June 2012.

The objective of this Symposium was to provide a basis for the re-examination of the Council of Europe Recommendation (2006)4 on research on biological materials of human origin.

To that end, the Symposium examined the developments in biobanking and research on biological materials of human origin, that have taken place since the adoption of the Recommendation and considered their possible evolution, in order to assess the challenges they may raise with respect to the ethical and legal principles enshrined in the Recommendation.