How FAR DO CHINA'S NEW INTERIM PROVISIONS ON ORGAN TRANSPLANTS Go?

The Interim Provisions on Administration of Clinical Application of Human Organ Transplant Technology were promulgated by the Ministry of Health in March 2006 as China's first piece of national legislation in the field of organ transplants. This article firstly reviews the legislative background of the new provisions as well as the previous local legislation, and then describes and analyses the main rules of the new legislation. These rules are categorised into three groups: the licensing and supervision mechanisms, the in-hospital procedural rules and the reporting systems, and the rules of organ donation and informed consent. Despite these rules, the new legislation has some significant deficiencies that tend to weaken its importance. This article concludes with a general evaluation of the new legislation.