On mutual recognition, multicentre projects must designate a lead institution whose ethics committee performs the first full and rigorous review and issues a written opinion and approval. Participating institutions that accept that opinion may confine their own review to local research conditions, investigator qualifications and the local informed-consent process, and should finish within 10 working days of receiving complete materials so as to avoid duplicated review. Once the lead committee approves, it must file with the provincial medical ethics expert committee within 10 working days, and all decisions must also be reported to the national medical research registration and filing system.
Higher-risk work carries an extra step. Projects using invasive BCI technology to treat neurological or psychiatric disease must, after clearing the host institution’s review, seek reassessment by the provincial medical ethics expert committee, which has 20 working days from formal acceptance to complete the review and a further seven working days to issue its opinion. Ethics committees must also adopt review criteria specific to the technology, focusing on the long-term safety of invasive procedures, privacy protection and lifecycle management of neural data, potential effects on participants’ mental and personal integrity, the special nature of informed consent, and arrangements for long-term follow-up and voluntary withdrawal. Independent advisers from neurology, law and data security are encouraged to join.