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Germany

Legislation Germany

Donation:

  • Laws concerning organ and tissue donation exist.  
  • Organ donation is an opting in system. Permission has to obtained from the next of kin, in will or on written document.

  • Removal of the eye as well as corneoscleral excision in situ are allowed.

 

Cornea banking:

  • The cornea and all other parts of the eye (e.g. sclera, limbus) are considered as tissues. Donation and processing of these tissues are regulated by various law and their amendments.
  • All eye banks need an accreditation of their local authority and of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute which is an agency of the German Federal Mnistry of Health.
  • Inspections of eye banks are performed by their local authority and by the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute. Both are defining their own inspection criteria.
  • The Section for Tissue Transplantation and Biotechnology of the German Society of Ophthalmolgy is preparing regulations and standards for accreditation and inspection.

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