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Verified 06 May 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Death consists of donating one's body at the time of death for medical education and research purposes. The decision has to be made in your lifetime and expressed consent in writing. It is a personal, voluntary, revocable and subject to certain rules. We explain the regulations you need to know.

Please note

The gift of the body should not be confused with the organ donation which allows a transplant on a sick person.

Only a major may give his consent for the donation of his body after his death.

An adult subject to a family empowerment measure for the purposes of representing the person or being under guardianship can't agree to it.

A minor cannot donate his body to science.

Warning  

He there is no " right to donation » : an institution may refuse a donation. In this case, it does not issue the donor card.

This involves several steps.

1Request for information

A request for information must be made to the authorized structure closest to your home.

A list of donation structures is available:

Find a center for a

2Submission of an information document

The donation structure gives you a information guide. This document:

  • Defines the gift of the body
  • Explain who can make this donation
  • Describes how the structure that houses the body works
  • Defines the body donation process
  • Outlines the different choices to be made at the time of reporting.

FYI  

This document is also issued by the institution to the reference person you have designated and to the person requesting the return of the body or ashes.

3Consent in writing

Once this information is given, you can express your agreement.

This consent translates into a ddeclaration dated and signed.

To do this, you have the time to think about it that is necessary for you information guide before continuing or not your approach.

This declaration shall be drawn up in accordance with a template and shall be submitted by the institution signing it.

This establishment is committed to respecting your will related to the restitution of the body.

Reminder

Consent to donation must be expressed personally in your lifetime.

During this statement, you are invited to make different choices.

Thus, you can:

  • Appoint with his agreement a reference person who will be the interlocutor of the establishment after the death
  • Express the wish that your body be crematized and that your ashes be dispersed or deposited in the burial place reserved for donors, without possible restitution
  • Wish your ashes to be handed over to the referee, or if not to a relative, who will assume the costs of your funeral
  • Accept or refuse that your name and surname be read during the remembrance ceremony
  • Accept or refuse that your name and surname be kept for memorial purposes and appear on a register, stele or commemorative plaque.

Please note

You can change your choices at any time, in particular regarding the appointment of a reference person and the return of the body and ashes.

4Issuance of a donor card

The property provides you with a donor card. You promise to have it permanently on you.

FYI  

In case of loss of card or theft, you are invited to get closer to the host structure. It will issue you a new card with the same number.

In principle, when issuing a donor card, the institution undertakes to receive the body after the death of the donor.

However, the body can be refused in the following cases :

  • Absence of death certificate
  • The body was lifted too late (for example, an autopsy had to be performed)
  • Deaths abroad requiring a beer-making
  • Death as a result of a contagious disease requiring immediate or reduced time to beer
  • Death as a result of a motor vehicle accident, suicide or any other reason that may pose a medico-legal problem
  • Poor body conservation.

Please note

If the institution that issued the donor card is unable to receive your body for any reason, that institution shall without delay submit a transfer request to the institution closest or closest to the place of your death.

After this transfer of the body, the responsibility for its preservation lies with the person in charge of the body-receiving structure of the recipient institution.

This gift is free : the establishment cannot ask you to participate in the costs.

The establishment insures at its expense the transport of the body to the body-receiving structure.

If you have expressed the will, the body or ashes are returned to your family.

Otherwise, the establishment shall carry out funeral operations.

If you do not object, the establishment informs, when it has the contact details, the reference person designated by you (or otherwise, the family and relatives):

  • The date on which he intends to carry out the type of funeral operation he has chosen
  • Depending on the nature of the activity practiced on the body, the possibility of requesting the restitution of his body or his ashes, or on the contrary the impossible nature of this restitution.

Every year, the establishment organizes a ceremony in honor of the donors, unless the latter wish otherwise. Your loved ones can participate in this ceremony.

Please note

In the absence of designated referrals, your loved ones can request the return of the body or ashes. If this restitution is possible, it will take place after the teaching or research activities.

You can at any time reverse your decision. To do so, you must send a written declaration on free paper to the institution that issued the donor card, by any means that can be used to confirm receipt (example: registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt).

This declaration must be accompanied by:

  • The donor card or, if it has been lost or destroyed, the number of the card issued
  • Or a copy of the declaration of consent to the donation.

Upon receipt of the declaration of revocation of consent, the establishment informs you of its receipt. Then it says “ consent revoked ’ in its computer register. He destroys the donor card if it is returned to him and destroys the donation declaration.

In the event of a change of address, you must inform the person in charge of the body reception facility.

If your new home is located outside the scope of intervention of the host structure, the person in charge of this structure informs you that you can:

  • Make a declaration to the authorized establishment closest to your new home
  • And transfer your request there.

If this institution agrees to issue you a donor card, it will then replace the card issued by the original institution. This institution will destroy the card it issued.

If you are considering donating your body and would like more information, you can contact the person in charge of the reception center who gave you the information document.