Health and Disability Ethics Committees (HDECs) are required to act in accordance with the procedural rules contained in the Standard Operating Procedures for Health and Disability Ethics Committees (SOPs). View the Standard Operating Procedures [DOCX, 164 KB].
The SOPs were developed to give effect to Government decisions announced in September 2011 following a parliamentary inquiry into clinical trials. View feedback received during consultation on a draft of the SOPs [DOCX, 109 KB].
For information on where timeframes will differ from those stipulated in the SOPs, please see this Secretariat Update.
The SOPs have been revised to refer to the new National Ethical Standards for Health and Disability Research and Quality Improvement(external link), but as yet there has been no change to content or review procedures.
We are currently working on a full review of the systems that support the work of the HDEC. This is part of a wider Ministry project that looks to modernise the Ministry’s Operational Ethics system and to ensure that the HDECs reflect the NEAC Standards and the New Zealand Health Research Strategy. As part of this project the current IT system will be upgraded with a new ethics application form which will be based on the revised NEAC Standards and the revised HDEC SOPs.
In the meantime, we ask that you complete the HDEC online application while using and referring to the revised Standards.
