{"id":62276,"date":"2026-03-25T10:26:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T14:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/?p=62276"},"modified":"2026-05-20T15:11:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T19:11:26","slug":"global-reliance-agreements-established-between-crc-bmc-and-bumc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/2026\/03\/25\/global-reliance-agreements-established-between-crc-bmc-and-bumc\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Reliance Agreements Established Between CRC, BMC, and BUMC"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"important notice\"><div class=\"important-wrap\"><p> This announcement was updated on May 20, 2026 to reflect the most recent guidance. <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Boston University\u2019s IRBs have put in place global reliance agreements to streamline multisite collaboration across the Charles River Campus (CRC), Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University Medical Campus (BUMC). These agreements:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Automatically apply to qualifying minimal\u2011risk collaborative research<\/li>\n<li>Simplify and standardize the reliance process for faculty and staff working across the campuses<\/li>\n<li>Take effect immediately<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> CRC students working on BMC\/BUMC research projects are covered under a separate reliance agreement and should follow the procedures described <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/2026\/01\/22\/new-streamlined-process-for-crc-student-collaboration-on-bmc-bumc-human-subjects-research\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>What is an IRB reliance agreement?<\/h2>\n<p>To avoid duplicative review and comply with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecfr.gov\/current\/title-45\/subtitle-A\/subchapter-A\/part-46\/subpart-A\/section-46.114\">federal single\u2011IRB requirements<\/a> for multisite research, IRBs may accept review responsibilities for another institution or rely on an external IRB\u2019s review. This arrangement, called IRB reliance or ceded IRB review, is executed through a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/ethics-compliance\/human-subjects\/reliance-agreements-for-multisite-studies\/\">reliance agreement<\/a> (also called an IRB Authorization Agreement), which documents the responsibilities of the Reviewing IRB and the Relying IRB for a given study.<\/p>\n<h2>Which agreements are in place?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>CRC &#x2194; BUMC (bidirectional)\n<ul>\n<li>CRC relying on BUMC IRB (CRC \u2192 BUMC): applies automatically to collaborative research that is no greater than minimal risk.<\/li>\n<li>BUMC relying on CRC IRB (BUMC \u2192 CRC): applies automatically to collaborative research that is no greater than minimal risk and does not involve interaction with BMC patients or access to BMC patient data or biospecimens.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>CRC \u2192 BMC (CRC relying on BMC IRB)\n<ul>\n<li>CRC relying on BMC IRB (CRC \u2192 BMC): applies automatically to collaborative research that is no greater than minimal risk.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"important notice\"><div class=\"important-wrap\"><p> Note: No greater than minimal risk typically means exempt and expedited research <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<h2>How the process works (for studies covered by the global agreements)<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Investigator submission\n<ul>\n<li>The investigator submits the study to the Reviewing IRB (either CRC IRB or BMC\/BUMC IRB), per guidance from their home unit. In the submission, study personnel from each campus and the activities taking place on each campus should be clearly identified.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>IRB review\n<ul>\n<li>The Reviewing IRB conducts the review and issues approval for both institutions. The approval letter will confirm the reliance. No IRB submission is needed to the Relying IRB.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Administrative notification\n<ul>\n<li>The Reviewing IRB will send the approval letter to the Principal Investigator with a copy to the Relying IRB.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Process complete\n<ul>\n<li>No additional reliance paperwork is required. The approval letter serves as confirmation of reliance under the global agreement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>What is <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">not<\/span> covered?<\/h2>\n<p>The global reliance agreements do not cover:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>BUMC investigators relying on the CRC IRB for studies involving BMC patients, BMC patient data, or BMC patient biospecimens; and<\/li>\n<li>BMC investigators relying on the CRC IRB for any research conducted by and located at BMC.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In either of these situations, a cede application to the BMC\/BUMC IRB is required along with a study-specific reliance agreement.<\/p>\n<h2>Questions and Assistance<\/h2>\n<p>If you have questions about whether your project qualifies under these agreements or about submission procedures, please contact:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"mailto:irb@bu.edu\">Charles River Campus IRB<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"mailto:medirb@bu.edu\">Boston Medical Center and Boston University Medical Campus IRB<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Boston University\u2019s IRBs have put in place global reliance agreements to streamline multisite collaboration across the Charles River Campus (CRC), Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University Medical Campus (BUMC). These agreements: Automatically apply to qualifying minimal\u2011risk collaborative research Simplify and standardize the reliance process for faculty and staff working across the campuses Take effect [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24171,"featured_media":59729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[225,740,253,246],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62276"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62276"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63235,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62276\/revisions\/63235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}