A method is provided for determining whether a third party is authorized to access information representative of genetic data. This information representative of genetic data is associated with a physical sample and is provided in an accessible format. A set of access rights is received that define which third parties can access the information and how the information can be used. A third party requests to access the information for the purposes of performing a test. The request is compared to the access rights. If the third party is authorized, the test is performed on the information. If, however, the third party is not authorized, access is denied.