The Human Tissue (Quality and Safety for Human application) Regulations 2007 transposed the European Union Tissues and Cells Directives (EUTCD) into UK law. This means the standards set out in the directives are part of UK legislation.
The purpose of the EUTCD is to set minimum standards for protecting the quality and safety of tissues and cells to be used for patient treatment ("human application"), harmonising the European approach.
UK organisations must be licensed by the Human Tissue Authority and inspected every 2 years if they carry out any of the following activities for patient treatment:
- procurement
- testing
- processing
- storage
- distribution
- import or export
Find out more about the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals Human Tissue Authority licenses.