The Research Ethics Committee (CER) was established to support researchers in reviewing and assessing research projects not governed by law and which involve the use of data from human beings. The CER’s area of responsibility does not include clinical drug trials that are regulated in accordance with Royal Decree 223/2004 of 6^th February that governs Clinical Drug Trials, or biomedical research on human samples or which involve invasive procedures on human subjects that are governed by Act 14/2007 of 3^rd July on Biomedical Research.

The CER acts at the request of researchers. The reason for submitting requests is to obtain a favourable report prior to the start of a study at the behest of the project’s funding body or, in anticipation of findings being published, due to the requirements of editorial committees and publication standards at scientific journals. The CER shall not report on projects or studies that have already begun.

The committee’s priority aim is for experimental designs and procedures implemented by researchers to comply with sufficient ethical and legal principles in order to ensure the project’s and participants’ safety. In any event, research involving human subjects must comply with the ethical principles on respecting personal dignity, confidentiality, non-discrimination and proportionality with regard to expected risks and benefits and, where applicable, it must have the written consent of the individuals involved, or their legal representatives, based on a report.
The inclusion of the data protection officer (DPO) on the CER enables it to verify whether proposals align with data protection regulations. Researchers are responsible for their proposal aligning with the relevant laws and regulations, and complying with them during and after the project’s implementation. The UIB digital services portal contains a specific section on data protection with all relevant information and, in the event of any doubt, individuals may contact the Data Protection Officer (DPO), Ms Caty Pou, a lawyer and adviser in the UIB Legal Affairs Service (tel.: 971 25 97 93; caty.pou@uib.es). This procedure is even more relevant where the proposed research plans to use sensitive data in the «special category», as defined in Article 9 of Organic Law 3/2018 of 5^th December on personal data protection and guarantee of digital rights, and in Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27^th April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data.