News item | 28-10-2025 | 2:00 PM
The updated bill on the control of body material (Wzl) makes it easier for researchers to conduct valuable medical research, while still guaranteeing that body material is handled carefully and with respect. The adjustments can have a positive effect on the availability of body material for research, which can help to accelerate research in healthcare. The updated Wzl bill was sent to the House of Representatives today.
The bill contains rules for hospitals, research institutions and companies that work with and store human body material. This concerns, for example, blood, a removed birthmark or an amputated body part. The bill regulates control over body material, medical-ethical assessment and management of body material. The Wzl determines when consent is or is not required for the collection of body material. The law also stipulates that a medical ethics review committee (METC) must give prior approval for the collection of body material for a biobank and for the use of collected body material in research. The law also addresses the management of body material. The law gives people more clarity about what happens to their blood, tissue or other bodily material.
Adjustment of previous bill
This bill is an amended and clarified version of the original bill from 2021. The principle that consent is always required for the collection of body material has remained unchanged. Both when the body material is collected for healthcare purposes and when this takes place to store for scientific research.
With clearer rules, the Wzl accelerates research that can lead to new treatments and medicines. An important change compared to the original proposal are the adjusted conditions for the use of body material collected for healthcare or diagnostics. This type of body material may be stored and used for scientific research without permission if a patient or donor is well informed and has not objected. In this case there should be no potentially sensitive application, such as use of the tissue to develop an immortal cell line.
In addition to these improvements, the criteria for the ethical assessment of scientific research have been adjusted and a number of definitions and legal articles have been adjusted and clarified. This improves the enforceability of the law.