Under article 23 of the Gene Technology Act, the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology (ECNH) is an extra-parliamentary advisory committee, appointed to advise the Federal Council and the federal and cantonal authorities on matters of regulations and enforcement of legislation in the field of non-human biotechnology.
The ECNH monitors and evaluates developments in and applications of non-human biotechnology and comments from an ethical perspective on the scientific and social questions arising in this connection.
It advises It collaborates with other federal and cantonal committees concerned with questions of biotechnology.
Expert reports commissioned by the ECNH which are of interest to a wider audience are published (in the original language) in a series entitled „Beiträge zur Ethik und Biotechnologie“ (Contributions to Ethics and Biotechnology).
These reports provide a basis for consideration of the ethical aspects of biotechnology and serve as working papers for the ECNH.