EU in brief" "
Greece has presented a proposal relating to the Council’s framework decision on the prevention and repression of the traffic in human organs and tissues. The proposal was favourably accepted by the European Parliament’s Commission for the liberties and rights of citizens, which examined it during the EP’s recent plenary session (20-23 October). The traffic in organs as such has hitherto been excluded from EU legislation, and strong legislative discrepancies exist between member states in this field. The Greek proposal envisages a minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years for offences committed in aggravating circumstances, as in the case in which injuries are perpetrated on minors. The parliamentary commission added the term “illegal”: the aim thereby is to emphasize the difference with the legal commerce regulated for medical purposes, which should not, they say, be criminalized. MEPs further ask that particular attention be paid to the protection of children and other particularly vulnerable people. The traffic in organs, they affirm, is dictated by demand: it is therefore fundamental to adopt a global approach and to tackle the factors that lie at the root of the problem.
