The Human Organ Transplants (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 (repealed)

• Citation: S.I. 1989/2408 (N.I.)
• Sections: 5

Section 1 Title and commencement

(1) This Order may be cited as the Human Organ Transplants (Northern Ireland) Order 1989.

(2) Except as provided by paragraph (3), this Order shall come into operation on the expiration of two months from the day on which it is made.

(3) Article 4(1) shall come into operation on such day as the Head of the Department may by order appoint .

Section 2 Interpretation

(1) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 shall apply to Article 1 and the following provisions of this Order as it applies to a Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

(2) In this Order—

“the Department” means the Department of Health and Social Services;

“organ” means any part of a human body consisting of a structured arrangement of tissues which, if wholly removed, cannot be replicated by the body.

Section 4 Restriction on transplants between persons not genetically related

(1) Subject to paragraph (3), a person shall be guilty of an offence if in Northern Ireland he—

(a) removes from a living person an organ intended to be transplanted into another person; or

(b) transplants an organ removed from a living person into another person,

unless the person into whom the organ is to be or, as the case may be, is transplanted is genetically related to the person from whom the organ is removed.

(2) For the purposes of this Article a person is genetically related to—

(a) his natural parents and children;

(b) his brothers and sisters of the whole or half blood;

(c) the brothers and sisters of the whole or half blood of either of his natural parents; and

(d) the natural children of his brothers and sisters of the whole or half blood or of the brothers and sisters of the whole or half blood of either of his natural parents;

but persons shall not in any particular case be treated as related in any of those ways unless the fact of the relationship has been established by such means as are specified by regulations made by the Department.

(3) The Department may by regulations provide that the prohibition in paragraph (1) shall not apply in cases where—

(a) such authority as is specified in the regulations is satisfied—

(i) that no payment has been or is to be made in contravention of Article 3; and

(ii) that such other conditions as are specified in the regulations are satisfied; and

(b) such other requirements as may be specified in the regulations are complied with.

(4) A person guilty of an offence under this Article shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or both.

(5) Regulations under paragraph (2) shall be subject to negative resolution; and regulations under paragraph (3) shall be subject to affirmative resolution.

Section 5 Information about transplant operations

(1) The Department may make regulations requiring such persons as are specified in the regulations to supply to such authority as is so specified such information as may be so specified with respect to transplants that have been or are proposed to be carried out in Northern Ireland using organs removed from dead or living persons.

(2) Any such authority shall keep a record of information supplied to it in pursuance of the regulations made under this Article.

(3) Any person who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with those regulations shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale; and any person who, in purported compliance with those regulations, knowingly or recklessly supplies information which is false or misleading in a material respect shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(4) Regulations under this Article shall be subject to negative resolution.

Section 6 Prosecutions

No proceedings for an offence under Article ... 4 shall be instituted except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland.