Legal regulation and nanosciences

Legal regulation is understood here as the action of regulating or ensuring the proper functioning of an activity or system.

When it comes to nanosciences, nanotechnologies and nanomaterials, France was the first country to adopt specific regulations with the Grenelle I and II laws in 2009 and 2010. This pioneering move was soon followed by Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Following France's example, a registry system was set up. However, the European Commission did not follow suit, due to disagreements over the need to adopt specific nanotechnology regulations at European level. The choice was therefore made to progressively modify sector-specific regulations to take better account of the risks associated with nanotechnologies and nanomaterials. The result is a wide disparity of texts that have to be coordinated at two levels, national and European, a complexity that reduces the readability of the whole.

To discuss the legal regulation of nanoscience, we need to consider the definitions used (1), and the relevance and methods of legal regulation of scientific research and industrial development in this field (2), in conjunction with other ethical and technical standards (3). The aim of this legal analysis is to provide the reader with an overview of the legal regulation of nanoscience, at a time when it is fragmented between sectors and constantly evolving, and more fundamentally to question the relevance and modalities of this regulatory action on research and technical-industrial development.