ABSTRACT

The collection, use, and disclosure of genetic data are paradigmatic of the difficult choices lawmakers have to make while facing multifaceted issues. Within this framework, processing genetic data by insurance companies and employers casts specific issues and concerns and lawmakers have to find the right balance among different stakeholder' interests, avoiding both discrimination and over-protection. Among the different choices made by legal orders, the Italian law on the data processing for employment and insurance purposes can be singledout as a very peculiar one. This paper analyses the peculiarities of the Italian system, related in particular to the source of law adopted to regulate the issue, the "cumulative" consideration of different kinds of genetic information, the narrow exceptions to the general prohibition. The consideration of the privacy-based, precautionary, and exceptionalistic approach allows reflecting, more broadly, also on other rights connected to the treatment and flow of genetic information.