ABSTRACT
Concern about the use and potential abuse of genetic information by insurers and employers has led to the drafting of a number of transnational and national legal instruments which seek to regulate the use of genetic information. At the transnational level measures such as that of the Council of Europe Convention on Biomedicine have appeared. In Austria there is a dual system of insurance. First, there is the social security state system which operates according to public law but is administered independently of the state, and so is in an intermediate position between private and direct state insurance. Secondly, there are private insurance companies. Both of these systems deal with retirement pension, health insurance and accident insurance. According to the Austrian gene technique law information from such tests must neither be requested nor required from the applicant.
