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	Approvazione Etica Retrospettiva	Protezione dei dati e privacy nella ricerca
Campo	Etica della ricerca	Etica della ricerca
Famiglia	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Anno di origine	1991	1996
Ideatore	U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; International research ethics community	European Union; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; International research ethics community
Tipo	Guideline	Regulation
Fonte seminale	U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2018). Protection of Human Subjects. Code of Federal Regulations Title 45, Part 46, Section 46.101(b).	European Union. (2018). Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Official Journal of the European Union, L 119, 1-88.
Alias	retroactive approval, post-hoc ethics approval, IRB exemption determination, delayed ethics review	research privacy, GDPR research, data security, confidentiality
Correlati	5	5
Sintesi	Retrospective ethics approval is the ethics committee's review and determination regarding research conducted or data collected before ethics approval was obtained. This situation arises when researchers collect data without advance ethics review (intentionally, out of oversight, or due to institutional gaps) and then seek ethics approval before analysis or publication. Retrospective approval is generally disfavored; regulations and guidelines strongly recommend prospective review (approval before data collection). However, retrospective determination of exemption (finding that data already collected meets exempt criteria under 45 CFR 46.104, similar frameworks in other jurisdictions) or retrospective approval with specific justifications may be possible. Understanding when retrospective approval can be obtained—and its limitations—is important for researchers facing this ethical and regulatory challenge.	Research involving human subjects generates sensitive data: medical records, genetic information, behavioral responses, economic or social information. Regulatory frameworks—HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) in the U.S., GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in the European Union, and parallel regulations in other countries—establish legal obligations for data protection and privacy. Researchers must implement technical and procedural safeguards to prevent unauthorized access, maintain confidentiality, and comply with participant rights (access, rectification, deletion, data portability). Understanding data protection requirements is not optional compliance; it is foundational to ethical research.