The Act on Health Sector Database, also known as Act on Health Sector Database, No. 139/1998, the Health Sector Database Act and in media by other colloquial names, was a 1998 act of the Icelandic Parliament which allowed the Icelandic government to grant a license to a private company for the creation of a national biological database to store health information which could be used for research. The act was noted for boldly introducing policy related to biobanks and was the subject of controversy.[citation needed]
deCODE genetics did most of the lobbying for the act and was the beneficiary of the license to create the database.[citation needed]
The passing of this act spurred international discussion about what policies were already in place and what differences in policy existed among biobanks.[1]
The establishment of a national database for all Icelandic citizens raised discussion about the nature of the informed consent process for the project.[2]
