[Consent, biobanks and biomedical research law].

This article provides an overview of recent contributions to the ethical and legal debate on the use of previously collected human biobank samples. It reports how this issue has been regulated in Spain by means of the new Law on Biomedical Research as well as in the international bioethical discourse. By contrasting both approaches we identify and critically discuss a general trend moving from the traditional requirements of informed consent towards models more favourable to research in a post-genomic context.