The Estonian Research Council has drafted a set of principles for the Ethical Principles of Research with Human Participants [In Estonian], with the aim of harmonising and supplementing the currently fragmented regulations in Estonia. The document outlines the definition of human research, general principles for involving humans in research, and the principles and exceptions related to ethics committee approval, informed consent, and the secondary use of data or samples.

Please note that this is an initial draft, for which we welcome feedback and suggestions for improvements from researchers and research institutions.

As part of developing the Ethical Principles, ETAG commissioned a legal analysis titled “Legal Regulation of Research Involving Humans in Estonia” (Pormeister, 2024) [In Estonian]. You are also invited to consult the explanatory diagram [In Estonian] defining different types of studies.

Second version of the draft Ethical Principles of Research with Human Participants (2025)

During the legislative process of the Organisation of Research, Development and Innovation Act (TAIKS), an updated version of the draft Ethical Principles was prepared with the help of a working group. We will present this in 2026, once the Research Ethics Committee has commenced its work.

The earlier document has been divided into three parts:

The Ethical Principles of Research with Human Participants (2025) [In Estonian]

The Ethical Principles of Research with Human Participants Cover Letter (2025) [In Estonian]

The Ethical Principles of Human Research Ethics Committees (2025) [In Estonian]