China issued its first regulation on human organ transplants on Friday in support of its ban on the trade of human organs.

The State Council released its Regulation on Human Organ Transplants, prohibiting organizations and individuals from trading human organs in any form.

The regulation will go into effect on May 1.

The regulation stipulates that human organ transplants should respect the principle of being voluntarily and freely donated.

A human organ transplant is defined as the process of taking all or part of a human organ such as the heart, lung, liver, kidney or pancreas from a donor and transplanting it into a patient's body to replace an unhealthy or damaged organ.

However, the regulation does not apply to human tissue transplants such as cells, corneas or marrow.

The regulation comprises 32 articles in five chapters, including human organ donations, human organ transplants, legal responsibilities and supplementary points. It covers transplant quality and aims to safeguard the rights of citizens.

Source: China Daily