Legislative Inertia in the Era of New Technologies: Biocomputing as a Symptom of the Systemic Dysfunction of Law

Abstract

The article addresses the issue of legislative inertia as an inherent feature of the normative system in the context of groundbreaking technological innovations. Biocomputing, i.e., information processing with the use of biological systems, serves as a case study demonstrating the inadequacy of existing legal categories for the phenomena that need regulation. The analysis covers EU law and Polish law and identifies four fundamental normative gaps: the lack of an appropriate legal category for the biocomputer, the inadequacy of the biosafety regime, the conflict of intellectual property regimes, and the unresolved issue of genetic data as a carrier of computational information. The study puts forward proposals for the law as it should stand concerning the inevitable lag of law, including the proposal for a framework law, ratification of the Oviedo Convention, establishment of an interdisciplinary expert council, and reform of legal education.