French Public Health Code
In forceI.-A person of full age who wishes to donate his or her body after his or her death for the purposes of medical teaching and research in application of article L. 1261-1 shall request information from the training and research or health establishment authorised in accordance with the second paragraph of the same article which is closest to his or her place of residence.
II.-The establishment shall provide the person with an information document, the content of which is set by joint order of the ministers responsible for higher education, research and health. In particular, it informs the person of the possibility of requesting the return of their body or ashes to their family or loved ones at the end of the medical teaching or research activities, or of objecting to this.
III -The person thus informed consents to the donation of their body by means of a declaration written in full, dated and signed by them, the model for which is set by joint order of the ministers responsible for higher education, research and health. This consent may be revoked at any time under the same conditions.
The declaration is co-signed by the person in charge of the body reception structure within the establishment mentioned in I, who, on the one hand, accepts the donation and, on the other, undertakes to respect the donor's wishes with regard to the return of his body or ashes. The establishment gives the donor a copy of this declaration and also issues a donor card, which the donor undertakes to wear at all times.
When it issues this card, the establishment undertakes to receive the body after the donor's death, which occurs anywhere in France, unless the circumstances of the death or the state of conservation of the body make this impossible. In these situations, articles R. 2213-2 to R. 2213-39-1 of the General Local Authorities Code apply.
If the establishment is unable, for whatever reason, to receive the body after the donor's death, the body is sent to the nearest authorised establishment able to receive it, in accordance with the procedures set out in the last paragraph of article R. 1261-3.
IV.The donor is encouraged to inform his family or close friends of his decision to donate.
The donor may designate one of his family or close friends as a contact person for the establishment.
When a contact person has been designated by the donor, this person will receive, at the latest immediately after death, the information document mentioned in II and, if the donor has not objected, information on the conditions for returning the body or ashes.
V.-No payment of any kind may be made to a person who consents to the donation of their body after their death to an establishment authorised in accordance with the second paragraph of article L. 1261-1.
No sum of money may be requested by the establishment.
