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There Oughta Be a Law: When Does(n’t) the U.S. Common Rule Apply?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Abstract

Using mobile health (mHealth) research as an extended example, this article provides an overview of when the Common Rule “applies” to a variety of activities, what might be meant when one says that the Common Rule does or does not “apply,” the extent to which these different meanings of “apply” matter, and, when the Common Rule does apply (however that term is defined), how it applies.

Type
Symposium Articles
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2020

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References

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Id. § 46.101(a). As of October of 2019, the following 16 federal departments and agencies are official signatories to the revised Common Rule, known as the “2018 Common Rule”: Department of Homeland Security, 6 C.F.R. Pt. 46; Department of Agriculture, 7 C.F.R. Pt. 1c; Department of Energy, 10 C.F.R. Pt. 745; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 14 C.F.R. Pt. 1230; Department of Commerce, 15 C.F.R. Pt. 27; Social Security Administration, 20 C.F.R. Pt. 431; Agency for International Development, 22 C.F.R. Pt. 225; Department of Housing and Urban Development, 24 C.F.R. Pt. 60; Department of Labor, 29 C.F.R. Pt. 21; Department of Defense, 32 C.F.R. Pt. 219; Department of Education, 34 C.F.R. Pt. 97; Department of Veterans Affairs, 38 C.F.R. Pt. 16; Environmental Protection Agency, 40 C.F.R. Pt. 26; Department of Health and Human Services, 45 C.F.R. Pt. 46; National Science Foundation, 45 C.F.R. Pt. 690; Department of Transportation, 49 C.F.R. Pt. 11. In addition, according to OHRP, two federal entities that were signatories to the pre-2018 Common Rule — Department of Justice, 28 C.F.R. Pt. 46, and Consumer Product Safety Commission, 16 C.F.R. Pt. 1028 — intend to become signatories to the revised Common Rule. Office for Human Research Protections, Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (“Common Rule”), available at <https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/regulations/common-rule/index.html> (last visited January 20, 2020). Finally, both the Central Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence follow the 2018 Common Rule, per Executive Order 12333 (1981), as amended by Executive Orders 13284 (2003), 13355 (2004), and 13470 (2008). Id.+(last+visited+January+20,+2020).+Finally,+both+the+Central+Intelligence+Agency+and+the+Office+of+the+Director+of+National+Intelligence+follow+the+2018+Common+Rule,+per+Executive+Order+12333+(1981),+as+amended+by+Executive+Orders+13284+(2003),+13355+(2004),+and+13470+(2008).+Id.>Google Scholar
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This is what happened, for example, when researchers at Cornell and Facebook collaborated on the infamous emotional contagion experiment. See Meyer, M.N., “Everything You Need to Know about Facebook’s Controversial Emotion Experiment,” Wired, June 30, 2014, available at <http://www.wired.com/2014/06/everything_you_need_to_know_about_facebooks_manipulative_experiment> (last visited January 20, 2020); Meyer, M.N., “Two Cheers for Corporate Experimentation: The A/B Illusion and the Virtues of Data-Driven Experimentation,” Colorado Technology Law Journal 13, no. 2 (2015): 273-331, at 311-312 and n.139.Google Scholar
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