Europe's historic plurality and the lack of a commonly accepted definition of the moral status of the embryo have led to varying regulation in European countries. Council of Europe and European Union legislation, based on fundamental ethical principles, does exist for specific issues, such as prohibition against producing embryos solely for research. Such principles have recently been elucidated by the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies. Newly emerging research techniques are beginning to cause reconsideration of the regulation of embryo research in Europe.

In response to a mandate conferred on the International Bioethics Committee (IBC) of UNESCO in November 1993, the IBC has drafted a "universal declaration on the human genome and human rights," which will be considered by the General Conference of UNESCO in November 1997. This article discusses the development of the document and provides the text of the "revised preliminary draft" of the declaration.

Although the Republic in France is traditionally represented by the image of Marianne, this symbol is far from illustrating the role played by women in public life. The fact is that in terms of women's representation in politics, France still shares with Greece the bottom place in the European Union. And this is one of the great paradoxes that foreign observers like to highlight in France.

Administrative law, industrial and commercial professions' law, competition law (largely EU-based), criminal law, intellectual property law or bankruptcy law, remained separate from the statute of the company. 3 The 28th régime-which never actually entered into force-is defined as a body of EU rules of an optional nature, co-existing with the legal systems of the 27 Member States, and being self-sufficient.

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