This article outlines likely complexities for researchers and research ethics committees, including …

• Abstract
• Background
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• Summary
• Miscellaneous
• References

Competing interests

The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors' contributions

Ms Slack and Strode conceived of the legal analysis and prepared the preliminary analysis. Dr Fleischer redrafted sections of the legal analysis and helped to draft the overall manuscript. Dr Gray prepared the introductory sections, made inputs to the legal analysis and helped to draft the overall manuscript. Ms Ranchod helped to prepare the analysis of the consent requirements and assisted with drafting the overall manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Acknowledgements

HAVEG is funded by the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI). The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of SAAVI. This article is based on an opinion prepared for the University of Cape Town research ethics committee. We gratefully acknowledge inputs from members in clarifying the legal questions. We thank Robyn von Maltzahn, HAVEG intern, for manuscript preparation.