Collaborations with international organisations

The World Health Organisation

The Agence de la biomédecine remains committed to actions that have been in progress for many years with the World Health Organisation (WHO), chiefly involving issues relating to organ donation on an international level.

The Council of Europe

The Agence represents France on the Council of Europe’s Committee on Organ Transplantation (CD-P-TO), a group of experts who work chiefly on recommendations and technical documents on the scale of the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe.

The European Union

The Agence is designated by the French Ministry of Health to take part in drafting directives which harmonise quality and safety standards at the European level.
With regard to the donation and transplantation of organs, the EU has set a target of meeting three challenges : improving the quality and safety of organs harvested and transplanted in Europe, increasing the availability of organs, and making transplantation organisation systems more efficient and more accessible.
To meet these challenges, it has established two mechanisms of action : the so-called “organ” directive, adopted in July 2010, and a 2009-2015 action plan to strengthen cooperation between Member States.

• Download directive 2010/53/EU (pdf, 870 kb)

European directive 2004/23/EC, known as the “tissue and cells” directive, and two related technical directives, meanwhile, set standards of quality and safety for the donation, procurement, testing, processing, preservation, storage and distribution of human tissue and cells. These standards, which were transposed into French law in 2008, also apply to biological activities relating to assisted reproductive technology.

• Download directive 2004/23/EC (pdf, 250 kb)
  

Bilateral relations

The Agence’s bilateral relations with the health agencies and ministries of other countries are more limited in their nature : exchanges of information, requests in connection with specific cases of patients, requests for information, reciprocal visits, etc.

South-Europe Alliance for Transplantation (SAT)

The Italian Centro Nazionale Trapianti (CNT), the Spanish Organizacion Nacional de Trasplantes (ONT) and the Agence de la biomédecine signed an agreement in 2012 which establishes a formal transnational alliance SAT to strengthen and implement the cooperation among the three countries in the field of organ, tissue and cell donation and transplantation.