Licensing
About the licensing of procurement organisations
Procurement is defined as the processes by which tissues and cells are made available, including the physical act of removing tissue and the donor selection and evaluation.
Emergency mortuary facilities
The HTA regulates establishments in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that conduct licensed activities under the Human Tissue Act 2004 (HT Act). This includes establishments that undertake post-mortem examinations, store bodies and samples for scheduled purposes in the HT Act, and remove samples from the deceased for these purposes.
We can provide an HTA licence for an emergency mortuary in the event of an incident.
Licensing exemptions
There are licensing exemptions in the HT Act 2004 and further specific exemptions in the HT Act 2004 (Ethical Approval, Exceptions from Licensing and Supply of Information about Transplants) Regulations 2006.
These regulations came into force on 1 September 2006.
The exemptions are summarised below according to whether the material is from the living or deceased.
How licensing works under the Human Tissue Act
The Human Tissue Act covers primarily England, Wales and Northern Ireland; only section 45 and schedule 4 of the Human Tissue Act include Scotland. There is separate legislation in Scotland – the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 – and the HTA performs certain tasks on behalf of the Scottish Government.
Application forms and guidance
You should read the relevant guidance document before you start to fill in the application form.
The guidance documents will tell you:
- who should complete the form;
- which sections of the form you need to complete; and
- the documents you need to submit along with your application.
Do I need a HTA licence?
Licensing
The more things change, the more they remain the same
Our Chief Executive Allan Marriott-Smith takes a look back over the last decade of the HTA.
I’m sure I’m not alone in the thinking that coming to the end of another decade has relatively few highlights. I can say for certain that in January 2020 I’m older, greyer and wrinklier than in 2010, and my knees have seen better days.