Abstract

The development of traditional medicine (TM) in the “new era” calls for improvements to legislation and development policies, alongside legal frameworks and liability mechanisms that prevent risks, protect patients, users of TM products and services, and practitioners, and ensure law-based administration by state authorities. This article examines legal issues in TM from a comprehensive perspective that extends beyond medical examination and treatment. Drawing on existing legal provisions, it identifies relevant groups of actors, risks, and liability mechanisms. It analyzes the interrelationships among legal provisions governing medical examination and treatment, medicinal materials, traditional medicines, traditional treatment methods, and the protection of patients’ and users’ rights. It also proposes a model for classifying liability according to function and degree of control over risks as an approach to studying legal provisions governing TM.

Keywords: Health law, legal liability, risk governance, traditional medicine.