Towards a data transfer agreement for the South African research community: The empowerment approach
Main Article Content
Abstract
The idea of a data transfer agreement (DTA) template for the South African (SA) research community is receiving increasing attention. While
developing such a DTA template is certainly a worthwhile project, questions regarding the project’s practical execution should be addressed,
including how to best operationalise the envisioned DTA template, and the content of the envisioned DTA template. It is proposed that an
empowerment approach be followed in operationalising the envisioned DTA template, which is contrasted with the regulatory approach
followed with the material transfer agreement that the Minister of Health promulgated in 2018. While the regulatory approach would entail
government making the use of the envisioned DTA template compulsory regardless of the quality of such a template, the empowerment
approach, by contrast, entails a focus on developing a high-quality, professionally drafted DTA template for the SA research community and
making the use thereof a matter of own choice. Regarding the content of the envisioned DTA template, four hot-button content provisions
are analysed, and it is argued that SA research institutions and researchers should be empowered to: (i) have clarity and legal certainty
regarding their ownership of data, where relevant; (ii) be able to commercialise their research findings without unnecessary contractual
constraints; (iii) avoid falling into the trap of unlawful benefit sharing with research participants; and (iv) be aware that their legal role as
responsible parties, where relevant, cannot be contracted out via a DTA.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The SAJBL is published under an Attribution-Non Commercial International Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-NC 4.0) License. Under this license, authors agree to make articles available to users, without permission or fees, for any lawful, non-commercial purpose. Users may read, copy, or re-use published content as long as the author and original place of publication are properly cited.
Exceptions to this license model is allowed for UKRI and research funded by organisations requiring that research be published open-access without embargo, under a CC-BY licence. As per the journals archiving policy, authors are permitted to self-archive the author-accepted manuscript (AAM) in a repository.
How to Cite
References
Swales L. The Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 in the context of health research: Enabler of privacy rights or roadblock? PELJ 2022;(25):1-32. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2022/v25i0a11180
South Africa. National Health Act No. 61 of 2003. Material transfer agreement for human biological materials. GN 719, Government Gazette 41781, 20 July 2018.
Mahomed S. An ethico-legal framework for the regulation of biobanks in South
Africa. PhD thesis. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand, 2018. https://
hdl.handle.net/10539/25331 (accessed 25 December 2022).
Thaldar DW, Botes M, Nienaber A. South Africa’s new standard material transfer
agreement: Proposals for improvement and pointers for implementation. BMC Medical Ethics 2020;21(85):1-13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-020-00526-x
ThaldarDW,TownsendBA,BotesM,ShoziB.‘Humanbiologicalmaterial’.In:Joubert WA (editor). Law of South Africa. Cape Town: LexisNexis, 2021.
Thaldar DW. One material transfer agreement to rule them all? A call for revising South Africa’s new standard material transfer agreement. Hum Soc Sci Commun 2020;7:105. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-00600-0
ThaldarDW,ShoziB.Thelegalstatusofhumanbiologicalmaterialusedforresearch. S Afr Law J 2021;138(4):881-907. https://doi.org/10.47348/SALJ/v138/i4a9
Steytler M, Thaldar DW. Public health emergency preparedness and response in South Africa: A review of recommendations for legal reform relating to data and biological sample sharing. S Afr J Bioethics Law 2021;14(3):101-106. https://doi. org/10.7196/SAJBL.2021.v14i3.772
ThaldarDW,TownsendBA.Exemptinghealthresearchfromtheconsentprovisions of POPIA. PELJ 2021(24):10420. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2021/ v24i0a10420
South Africa. Protection of Personal Information Act No. 4 of 2013.
TownsendB.ThelawfulsharingofhealthresearchdatainSouthAfricaandbeyond.Inf
Comm Tech Law 2021;31(1):17-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600834.2021.1918905 12. Mahomed S, Loots G, Staunton C. The role of Data Transfer Agreements in ethically managing data sharing for research in South Africa. S Afr J Bioethics Law
;15(1):26-30. https://doi.org/10.7196/SAJBL.2022.v15i1.807
South African Medical Research Council. Ethically managing data transfers for research in SA. Cape Town: SAMRC, 2022. https://youtu.be/HD4Lg34bSCk (accessed
September 2022).
Thaldar DW, Townsend BA, Donnelly D-L, et al The multidimensional legal nature
of personal genomic sequence data: A South African perspective. Front Genet
;13:997595. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2022.997595
Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency v Medbury (Pty) Ltd t/a Crown River
Society 2018 (4) SA 206 (SCA).
South Africa. Cybercrimes Act No. 19 of 2020.
Albrecht J, Carrez D, Cunningham P, et al. The knowledge based bio-economy
(KBBE) in Europe: Achievements and challenges. Clever Consult 2010:1-67. https://
doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.36049.94560
Department of Science and Technology, South Africa. The Bio-economy Strategy of South Africa. Pretoria: DST, 2013.
Mowery DC. University industry research collaboration and technology transfer in the United States since 1980. In: Yusuf S and Nabeshima K, eds. How Universities Promote Economic Growth. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007:163-181. https:// openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/6631 (accessed 6 September 2022).
Phillips KPA. Knowledge transfer and Australian universities and publicly funded research agencies. Canberra: Department of Education, Science and Training, 2006. https://transferoflearning.com/knowledge-transfer-and-australian- universities-and-publicly-funded-research-agencies/ (accessed 6 September 2022).
South Africa. Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Act No. 51 of 2008.
South Africa. Technology Innovation Agency Act No. 26 of 2008.
South Africa. National Health Act No. 61 of 2003.
Swales L, Thaldar DW, Donnelly, DL. Why research institutions should indemnify
researchers against POPIA civil liability. S Afr J Sci 2022;118(3/4):1-3. https://doi.
org/10.17159/sajs.2022/13205
Townsend BA, Thaldar DW. Navigating uncharted waters: Biobanks and informational privacy in South Africa. S Afr J Human Rights 2020:35(4):329-350. https://doi.org/10.1080/02587203.2020.1717366
Swales L, Ogendi P, Botes M, Townsend B, Donnelly D-L, Abdulrauf L, Thaldar D. (2023). A data transfer agreement template for South Africa (1.0). Zenodo. https:// doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7537396