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The Human Cell Atlas (HCA) is a global partnership "to create comprehensive reference maps of all human cells-the fundamental units of life - as a basis for both understanding human health and diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease." ( https://www.humancellatlas.org/ ) The atlas shall characterize cells from diverse individuals across the globe to better understand human biology. HCA proactively considers the priorities of, and benefits accrued to, contributing communities. Here, we lay out principles and action items that have been adopted to affirm HCA's commitment to equity so that the atlas is beneficial to all of humanity., Competing Interests: Competing interests: A.R. is an employee of Genentech, a member of the Roche group, and has equity in Roche. A.R. was a co-founder and equity holder of Celsius Therapeutics, is an equity holder in Immunitas, and until July 31, 2020 was an S.A.B. member of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Syros Pharmaceuticals, Neogene Therapeutics and Asimov. A.R. is an inventor on multiple patents related to single cell and spatial genomics. All other authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Striving to build an exhaustive guidebook of the types and properties of human cells, the Human Cell Atlas' (HCA) success relies on the sampling of diverse populations, developmental stages, and tissue types. Its open science philosophy preconizes the rapid, seamless sharing of data - as openly as possible. In light of the scope and ambition of such an international initiative, the HCA Ethics Working Group (EWG) has been working to build a solid foundation to address the complexities of data collection and sharing as part of Atlas development. Indeed, a particular challenge of the HCA is the diversity of sampling scenarios (e.g., living participants, deceased donors, pediatric populations, culturally diverse backgrounds, tissues from various developmental stages, etc.), and associated ethical and legal norms, which vary across countries contributing to the effort. Hence, to the extent possible, the EWG set out to provide harmonised, international and interoperable policies and tools, to guide its research community. This paper provides a high-level overview of the types of challenges and approaches proposed by the EWG., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Many countries consider long-term implications for society.