The article analyzes the topical issues of international legal regulation of genetic research; it provides a comparative analysis of two groups of international acts regulating relations related to genetic research and application of their results on creation, use and circulation of genetically modified organisms (except humans), on the study of human genome and application of their results. The article deals with the issues of objects and methods of genetic research regulation, balance of interests as the basis for legal regulation of public relations in the field of genomic research. It also considers approaches to ensuring a balance of private, group and common (public) interests. Criticism of certain provisions of the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine is given, the question of the inadmissibility of legal opposition between the protection of human rights and the interests of science and society as a whole is raised. The authors put forward proposals on the implementation of a number of international norms in Russian legislation and its further improvement, as well as on the use of blockchain technology in genetic research.