Table 1.
Legislation by nationa
| Nation | Province/Territory/State/Region | Name of legislation | Consent | Source | Source type |
| Armenia | Law on Organ and Tissue Transplantation, 2002 | Presumedb | National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia [23] (Hovhannisyan, L. Yerevan. June 2010) | Website and personal communication | |
| Australia | Australian Capital Territory | Transplantation and Anatomy Act 1978 | Explicit | The ACT Legislation Register [24] | Website |
| New South Wales | Human Tissue Act 1983 | New South Wales Government [25] | Website | ||
| Northern Territory | Human Tissue Transplant Act 1979 | Northern Territory Government—Department of the Chief Minister [26] | Website | ||
| Queensland | Transplantation and Anatomy Act 1979 | Queensland Government—Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel [27] | Website | ||
| South Australia | Transplantation and Anatomy Act 1983 | Government of South Australia—Attorney-General’s Department [28] | Website | ||
| Tasmania | Human Tissue Act 1985 | Tasmania’s Consolidated Legislation Online [29] | Website | ||
| Victoria | Human Tissue Act 1982 | Victoria Government Health Information [30] | Website | ||
| Western Australia | Human Tissue and Transplantation Act 1982 | Government of Western Australia—State Law Publisher [31] | Website | ||
| Austria | Hospitals Law of 18 December 1956, Paragraph 62a-e, 1982 | Presumed | Gesundheit Österreich GmbH [32] | Website | |
| Belarus | Law of the Republic of Belarus ‘On Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues’ | Presumed | The Belarusian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education (Komisarov, K. Minsk. June 2010) | Personal communication | |
| Belgium | Law of 13 June 1986 | Presumedc | Moniteur Belge [33] | Website | |
| Brazil | Law No. 9.434 of 4 February 1997 | Explicit | Ministério da Saúde [34–36] | Website | |
| Law No. 10.211 of 23 March 2001 | |||||
| Decree No. 2.268 of 30 June 1997 | |||||
| Canada | Alberta | Human Tissue and Organ Donation Act, 2006 | Explicit | CanLII Database [22, 37–48] | Website |
| British Columbia | Human Tissue Gift Act 1996 | ||||
| Manitoba | Human Tissue Gift Act, 1987 | ||||
| New Brunswick | Human Tissue Gift Act, 2004 | ||||
| Newfoundland and Labrador | Human Tissue Act, 1990 | ||||
| Northwest Territories | Human Tissue Act, 1988 | ||||
| Nova Scotia | Human Tissue Gift Act, 1989 | ||||
| Nunavut | Human Tissue Act, 1988 | ||||
| Ontario | Trillium Gift of Life Network Act, 1990 | ||||
| Prince Edward Island | Human Tissue Donation Act, 1988 | ||||
| Quebec | Civil Code of Quebec | ||||
| Saskatchewan | Human Tissue Gift Act, 1978 | ||||
| Yukon | Human Tissue Gift Act, 2002 | ||||
| Chile | Law No. 20.413 of January 6, 2010 | Presumedd | Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile [49] | Website | |
| Colombia | Law No. 9, 1979 | Presumed | Punta Cana Group [50] | Website | |
| Law No. 73, 1988 | |||||
| Law No. 919, 2004 | |||||
| Decree 2493, 2004 | |||||
| Resolution 2640, 2005 | |||||
| Costa Rica | Law No. 7409 of 27 October 1994 | Presumed | Punta Cana Group [50] | Website | |
| Croatia | Law RH 50/88 | Presumed | Donor Network of Croatia [51] | Website | |
| Law RH 177/2004 | |||||
| Rule No. 152/2005 | |||||
| Cuba | Law No. 41 of 13 July 1983 on public health | Explicit | Legislative Responses to Organ Transplantation [52] | Book | |
| Decree No. 139 of 4 February 1988 | Trasplante [53] | Website | |||
| Czech Republic | Act 285/2002 Coll. Of 30 May 2002 on donation, removal, and transplantation of organs and tissues | Presumed | Transplants Coordinating Center (KST) (Fryda, P. Prague. March 2010) | Personal communication | |
| Denmark | Sundhedsloven – LBK No. 95 of 7 February 2008 | Explicit | Retsinformation [54] | Website | |
| Ecuador | Law No. 58 of 27 July 1994 | Presumed | Instituto Ecuatoriano de Dialisis y Trasplantes (Ortiz-Herbener, F. Guayaquil. July 2009) | Personal communication | |
| Estonia | Rakkude, Kudede Ja Elundite Käitlemise Ja Siirdamise Seadus | Explicit | Electronic Riigi Teataja (ERT) [55] | Website | |
| Finland | No. 101/2001 Act on the medical use of human organs and tissues | Presumed | Finlex [56, 57] | Website | |
| Law No. 547 of 11 May 2007 amending Law No. 101 | |||||
| France | Public Health Code | Presumed | Legifrance [58] | Website | |
| The Transplantation Act, 5 November 1997 | Explicit | Deutsche Stiftung Organ transplantation (Norba, D. June 2009. Frankfurt) Bundesgesetzblatt online [59] | Personal communication | ||
| Germany | Amendments to the Transplantation Act, 2007 | Website | |||
| Iceland | Act No. 16 of 6 March 1991 | Explicit | Althingi [60] | Website | |
| India | Act No. 42 of 1994, Transplantation of Human Organs Act | Explicit | CommonLII [61] MOHAN Foundation [62] | Website | |
| Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Rules 2008 | Website | ||||
| Ireland | n/a | Explicit | n/a | n/a | |
| Israel | Organ Transplant Act, 2008 | Explicit | Israel Ministry of Health (Ashkenazi, T. Tel Aviv. May 2010) | Personal communication | |
| Italy | Law No. 91 of 1 April, 1999 Ministerial Decree of 8 April 2000 | Presumed | Portale Della Normativa Sanitaria [63, 64] | Website | |
| Japan | Law No. 104 of 16 July 1997e | Explicit | WHO International Digest of Health Legislation [65] | Website | |
| Kuwait | Decree-Law No. 55 of 20 December 1987 | Explicit | Legislative Responses to Organ Transplantation [52] | Book | |
| Lithuania | Law on Donation and Transplantation of Human Tissues, Cells and Organs | Explicit | Lithuanian National Transplantation Bureau (NTB) [66] | Website | |
| Luxembourg | Law of 25 November 1982 | Presumed | Luxembourg-Transplant [67] | Website | |
| Malaysia | Human Tissues Act 1974 | Explicit | The Attorney General of Malaysia [68] | Website | |
| Malta | n/a | Explicit | Transplant Support Group (Debattista, A. Hamrun. June 2010) | Personal communication | |
| Mexico | Ley General de Salud | Explicit | Centro Nacional de Trasplantes [69] | Website | |
| Reglamento de la Ley General de Salud | |||||
| Lineamientos para la asignación y distribución de órganos y tejidos | |||||
| Netherlands | The Organ Donation Act, 1996 | Explicit | Overheid [70] | Website | |
| New Zealand | Human Tissue Act 2008 | Explicit | The Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO) [71] | Website | |
| Norway | Law No. 6 of 9 February 1973 | Presumed | Lovdata [72] | Website | |
| Paraguay | Law No. 1246/98 | Presumed | Punta Cana Group [50] | Website | |
| Philippines | Republic Act No. 7170 | Explicit | Chan Robles Virtual Law Library [73] | Website | |
| Poland | The Cell, Tissue and Organ Recovery, Storage and Transplantation Act, 2005 | Presumed | Poltransplant [21] | Website | |
| Romania | Law No. 95/2006 | Explicit | Agenţtia Nationalã de Transplant [74] | Website | |
| Russia | Law of 22 December 1992 | Presumed | Central Clinical Hospital of Russian Academy of Sciences (Pishchita, A. Moscow. June 2010) | Personal communication | |
| Saudi Arabia | Procedure of Deceased Organ Donation | Explicit | Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation [75] | Website | |
| Singapore | Human Organ Transplant Act | Presumed | Singapore Statutes Online [76, 77] | Website | |
| The Medical (Therapy, Education and Research) Act | |||||
| Slovak Republic | Law 576/2004, of 21 October 2004 | Presumed | Slovenské Centrum Orgánových Transplantácií [78] | Website | |
| Slovenia | The Removal and Transplantation of Human Body Parts for the Purposes of Medical Treatment Act | Presumed | Uradni list RS [79] | Website | |
| South Africa | National Health Act, 2003 | Explicit | Department of Health [80] | Website | |
| South Korea | Law 8852 | Explicit | Ulsan University Medical College (Kim, J. H. Seoul, June 2010) | Personal communication | |
| Spain | Law No. 30 of 27 October 1979 RD 2070/1999 on the removal and transplantation of organs | Presumed | Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation [81] | Website | |
| Sweden | Law No. 831 of 1 June 1995 | Presumed | Riksdag [82] | Website | |
| Switzerland | Federal Act of 8 October 2004 on the Transplantation of Organs, Tissues and Cells (Transplantation Act)f | Explicit | The Federal Authorities of the Swiss Confederation [83] | Website | |
| Thailand | Rules of the Medical Council on the Observance on Medical Ethics | Explicit | Chulalongkorn University (Nivatvongs, S. Bangkok. June 2010) | Personal communication | |
| Medical Council's Announcement on Criteria for Brain Death Diagnosis | |||||
| Tunisia | Law No. 91-22 of 25 March 1991 | Presumed | CHU la Rabta (Hamouda, C. Tunis. June 2010) | Personal communication | |
| Law No. 49 of 12 June 1995 | |||||
| Law No. 18 of 1 March 1999 | |||||
| Decree No. 97 of 13 June 1997 | |||||
| Ordinance of 28 July 2004 | |||||
| Turkey | Law #2238 of 29 May 1979 | Presumed | Turkish Transplantation Society [84] | Website | |
| Law #2594 of 21 January 1982 | |||||
| UK | Human Tissue Act 2004g | Explicit | Office of Public Sector Information [85, 86] | Website | |
| Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 | |||||
| USA | Uniform Anatomical Gift Acth | Explicit | National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws [87] | Website | |
| Venezuela | Law of 3 December 1992 | Explicit | Punta Cana Group [50] | Website |
a
n/a = not applicable.
b
Switched to ‘soft’ presumed consent March 2009.
c
Removed a clause that allowed next-of-kin to object to donation in the absence of a registered wish to donate February 2007. In practice next-of-kin’s objection still respected in absence of a registered decision.
d
Changed from explicit consent to presumed consent January 2010.
e
In July 2009 revisions were adopted that will be in effect in 1 year [R. Ida (personal communication)].
f
A federal law was in enacted July 2007 abolishing the previous mixture of presumed and explicit consent canons (states).
g
Applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
h
The most recent version of the UAGA has been implemented in the various states. A list can be found at http://www.anatomicalgiftact.org.