Table 1.

Human research ethics committees by country, at the time of review for the first LINNAEUS study

	Australia	Canada	England	Netherlands	New Zealand	US
Number of committees in the country (approximately)	215	70	187a	80	13	3–4000b
Turn-around time for submission to approval of the LINNAEUS study (weeks)	3–4	3–10	8–9	6	8	2–4c
Minimum number of people on on committee	7	3–5	≥7	5	7	5
Minimum number of committee women/men stipulated	Yes	No	No	No	Nod	Yes
Chair must be lay person	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Minimum number of lay people on the committee stipulated	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Legal expert must be represented	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	N
Medical expert/scientist must be represented	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Religious/community leader must be represented	Yes	No	No	No	Yese	No
Ethnicity issues must be specifically addressed by every proposal	Yesf	No	No	No	Yesg	No

^aIf the proposal covers five geographical areas or more, one of eight multicentre ethics committees is used.

^bThis is an estimate based upon Food and Drug Administration reports. It is also estimated that only 150 institutional review boards review 85% of funded research in the US (Charles McCarthy, personal communication, 2002).

^cFor proposals with minimal risk to subjects and using conventional research methods, an expedited review with a subset of the committee is granted, but more in-depth proposals may take 4–6 months.

^dSex balance, and legal, and medical representation are desirable but not essential.

^eAt least two committee members must be Maori.

^fApplication form has a specific section relating to involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

^gMaori representation is mandatory on every human research ethics committee.