Legal Framework

In their activities, German universities operate on the foundation of the German Basic Law, the European Convention on Human Rights, EU data protection policy, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the United Nations declaration of human rights.

Researchers and teaching staff involved in international projects must observe the applicable law of the countries of their cooperation partners.

Researchers and teaching staff with third-party funding for international activities must act in accordance with guidelines of the respective funding bodies.

In both formal and informal collaborations, researchers at the University of Göttingen are obliged to inform themselves about their personal accountability as well as the risks of the respective cooperation in order to protect themselves, the reputation of the University of Göttingen, the cooperation partners and their research results.

Accourding to the export control regulations, researchers are personally held responsible that their results are not misdirected or misused (e.g., for military purposes) and do not circumvent EU sanctions. Violations can result in severe penalties.

Researchers must act in accordance with the Nagoya protocol, which is an additional protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The CBD aims to conserve and sustainably use the world's biological diversity. The Nagoya Protocol requires countries that use genetic resources to develop medicines or plants, for example, to pay an adequate compensation to the countries from which these resources originate. This is intended to ensure that countries that use genetic resources respect the rights and interests of the countries from which these resources originate.

Questions can be addressed to: international@uni-goettingen.de