Body Donation and Data Protection: Comparative Issues

Abstract

The text undertakes an analysis of the application of EU data protection law within the framework of procedures governing the donation of the human body for purposes of scientific research and training. Beyond the integrity of anatomical components, such donation entails the transfer of the individual’s associated informational patrimony, construed as an expression of their biological identity. The requirements prescribed for the valid expression of the donor’s will, together with the anonymity thereby ensured – albeit within the diversity of national legal systems – does not preclude construing the transfer of data effected through body donation as a specific expression of the “data altruism”.