Genetic analysis in hiring and insurance: limits under Austria’s GTG

Section 67 of Austria’s Gene Technology Act (Gentechnikgesetz, GTG) sets a specific limit. Employers and insurers may not collect, request, accept or otherwise use results from genetic analyses concerning employees, job-seekers, policyholders or insurance applicants. The rule also names their agents and employees.

The narrow exception concerns insurers and Type 1 results. It applies only where the result cannot reveal results from genetic analyses of Types 2, 3 or 4. Section 67 GTG deals separately with biological material submitted for genetic analysis.

Section 67(1) GTG names employees and job-seekers, as well as policyholders and insurance applicants. The provision may therefore matter during recruitment or before an insurance contract is concluded. In insurance, it names both existing policyholders and people applying for cover.

The rule addresses employers and insurers. It expressly includes their agents and employees. The assessment therefore starts with who initiated or handled the request and the role of the person concerned in that process.

The first sentence of section 67(1) GTG covers four actions: collecting, requesting, accepting or otherwise using results from genetic analyses. It therefore also concerns the handling of a report that already exists. The provision refers to genetic analysis results, not every item of health information about a person.

Workplace health programmes can raise separate questions about health data. The article on health data in a workplace prevention programme covers participation and access limits in that different setting.

Section 67(2) GTG sets out a narrow exception for insurers, including their agents and employees, from the prohibition in the first sentence. The result must come from a Type 1 genetic analysis and concern a policyholder or insurance applicant. It must also be impossible to infer results from genetic analyses of Types 2, 3 or 4.

Both conditions apply together. The provision creates no equivalent exception for employers. Whether the exception applies depends on the individual report and whether results of Types 2, 3 or 4 may be inferred from it.

The second sentence of section 67(1) GTG separately covers a request to provide, or acceptance of, biological material for genetic analysis. It therefore reaches the sample itself when it is sought for genetic testing.

Section 67(2) disapplies only the first sentence of paragraph 1 for certain results. Its wording does not extend that exception to the second sentence on biological material. The Type 1 rule concerns an analysis result; a request to provide or accept a sample requires a separate assessment. The current text of section 67 GTG is available through Austria’s Legal Information System.

Keep the letter, form and attachments. Record who made the request, whether it relates to recruitment or insurance, and what information is sought. A copy of an analysis result is different from a request to provide biological material for a test.

For an insurance request, check the stated analysis type and what can be inferred from the report. If either point is missing, the exception cannot be assessed reliably. Preserve the documents and have the exact wording reviewed. The article on patient data in research projects addresses the separate question of research use.