Direct-to-consumer Genetic Testing: Changes in the EU Regulatory Landscape

Rapid advances in genomics and technology have rendered genetic testing services easily accessible to consumers over the Internet in the form of direct-to-consumer genetic testing. In the EU, the IVD Directive has been animadverted for its inability to tackle the challenges direct-to-consumer genetic testing has posed. Currently, the EU legislation is in a transition state. It is thus, timely to assess, to what extent the proposed IVD Regulation is intended to address the performance requirements and utility of direct-to-consumer genetic tests, which are made available to consumers within the EU over the Internet, and discuss the developments vis-à-vis the IVD Directive. To compare with the IVD Directive, the IVD Regulation presents a major shift in how direct-to-consumer genetic testing is treated in the E U. It remains unclear, whether and how the EU requirements can be applied beyond the EU market.