Projects that fall into any of the following situations will receive a Declaration of Non-Evaluability from the CEID-UDC, due to:

• Fundamental deficiencies: No report will be issued for projects that do not meet the minimum requirements for evaluation. This includes cases in which the protocol does not include the essential elements required by the Committee, or when the research is at an early stage, lacking sufficient depth in the state of the art, methodological design, or ethical considerations. In such cases, the Committee will recommend revision and resubmission.
• Resaerch already initiated: According to Article 4 of the CEID-UDC Regulations, approved by the Governing Council on April 3, 2018, and amended on September 26, 2019, it is the Committee’s function to issue an opinion on the ethical soundness of research projects and works “prior to their implementation” (Art. 4.2.a). Therefore, projects for which an ethical report is requested after the research has already begun or been completed without prior evaluation by an Ethics Committee will not be assessed.
• Investigación desenvolvida fóra do territorio español: Projects in which data collection is carried out exclusively outside Spain will not be evaluated by the CEID-UDC, as the report issued would not be valid under the legislation of the country where the research takes place. In such cases, the researcher must obtain approval from the ethics committee corresponding to the country where the study will be conducted.