NCE opinion on officially recorded gender

Officially recorded gender is key to the allocation of entitlements, protections and rights, and organises society. However, the current legal regulation fails to reflect the diversity of gender identities and disregards fundamental interests of people with non-binary gender identities, transgender and intersex people.

•  To the opinion  

Current work

Third sex in civil status

The question of abandoning all mention of gender or introducing new gender categories in civil status is being discussed at the national and international levels.  In this context, the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) has asked the NCE to adopt a position on the matter. The Commission therefore takes this opportunity to express its views on the ethical and legal implications of this social development.

Drug Costs

Medicines can improve the length or quality of life of patients, or even their complete recovery. However, they represent a significant part of public health costs and their price can represent, for some, a barrier to access to adequate treatment, for others, a sometimes excessive burden on the community. The NCE is addressing this issue from a distributive justice perspective.

Autonomy in medicine

Autonomy is one of the most important principles in medical ethics.

The NCE’s reflections on aspects of autonomy and the challenges it entails include a series of symposia over several years organised jointly with the Central Ethics Committee (CEC) of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (SAMS).

Further information

Contact

Secretariat NCE

info(at)nek-cne.admin.ch 
Tel.: +41 58 469 77 64

Postal address

National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics
c/o Federal Office of Public Health
CH-3003 Bern

National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics

The National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics (NCE) was appointed by the Federal Council 2001 to advise the authorities from an ethical perspective, as an independent expert committee, in the field of human biomedicine.

The NCE is composed of 15 members. Since 2024, the committee has been chaired by Prof. Dr. theol. Markus Zimmermann.

New technologies used in medical practice open up a host of possibilities, for example in reproduction and how people plan their lives, which raise fundamental questions about life and death, the future of society and about the benefits of scientific research. In this context the NCE sees itself as a tool of the modern state and of democracy. It seeks to clarify ethical issues by addressing and elucidating public debates. The main emphasis is placed on the preparation of opinions and recommendations, and communication with the public.