HTA publishes guidance on displaying human bodies

The HTA has published its revised guidance on the public display of human bodies, body parts and tissue following an extensive consultation.

Issue date: 15 September 2006

The HTA has today (15 September 2006) published its revised guidance on the public display of human bodies, body parts and tissue following an extensive consultation. The guidance provides a definition of public display and supplements the Authority’s licensing standards and Code on consent. Taken together, these three elements form comprehensive guidance on complying with the public display requirements of the Human Tissue Act (HT Act) which came into force on 1 September 2006.

As of 1 September 2006, the HTA licenses sites such as museums that display human remains or tissue from people who died less than 100 years before that date. A requirement of the HT Act is that all human material collected after 1 September requires written and witnessed consent for its storage and use in public display.

Although the HT Act requires licensing of public display, it does not distinguish between actual display and electronic images of bodies or body parts. After very careful consideration, the HTA has decided not to license the display of images of any kind, including the display of images, whether moving (e.g. in a broadcast or transmission) or static (e.g. in a text book).

More than 40 responses were received to the public consultation on the guidance on public display. Around 35 people – including broadcast media and representatives from the museum sector – took part in a lively and highly informative consultation workshop.

Commenting on the guidance, Adrian McNeil, Chief Executive of the HTA, said: “Representatives from the museum and university sectors, as well as members of the public and the media, were involved in developing the guidance. We hope that this guidance and our licensing standards will provide a clear understanding of what constitutes public display and therefore falls within the HTA’s licensing remit. "

Details of the licence fees for public display are available on this website. In keeping with its desire to be proportionate, the HTA has decided to charge a considerably lower fee for existing permanent small museums or collections holding fewer than 20 exhibits.

ENDS

For further information contact the HTA: Stuart Giblin 020 7211 3416, stuart.giblin@hta.gov.uk, Daisy Thomas 020 7211 3417, daisy.thomas@hta.gov.uk 
 
Notes to editors
 
1. The HTA guidance on public display is available to download from this website - download guidance

2. The HTA defines public display as: “An exhibition, show or display in which a body of a deceased person or relevant material which has come from the body of a deceased person is used for the purpose of being exposed to view by the public.”

3. The consultation on the public display guidance was conducted between 8 May and 28 June 2006. The HTA has published the revised guidance document following the consultation. The HTA received 41 responses to the consultation. In addition the HTA held a consultation workshop on 22 June 2006, attended by 36 professional and lay participants.

4. The HTA was established on 1 April 2005 to regulate the removal, storage, use and disposal of human bodies, organs and tissue for a number of ‘Scheduled Purposes’ – such as research, transplantation, and education and training – set out in the Human Tissue Act 2004 (HT Act).
 
5. The HT Act covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There is separate legislation in Scotland – the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 – and the HTA will perform certain tasks on behalf of the Scottish Executive (approval of living donation and licensing of establishments storing tissue for human application).
 
6. As the regulator under the HT Act, the HTA is responsible for licensing a number of activities and carrying out inspections to ensure licence conditions are being met. These licensable activities are:

• Anatomical examination
• Post mortem examination
• Removal of material from deceased persons in certain circumstances
• Storage of post mortem material
• Storage of anatomical specimens
• Storage of material from a living person (e.g. for research)
• Public display of a body or material from a deceased person.

Establishments storing tissue for human application are regulated under the EU Tissues and Cells Directive and required a licence as of 7 April 2006.  All other activities required a licence from 1 September 2006.

7. The HTA has published six Codes of Practice which are available on the HTA website: Code of Practice 1 – Consent; Code of Practice 2 – Donation of organs, tissue and cells for transplantation; Code of Practice 3 – Post mortem examination; Code of Practice 4 – Anatomical examination;  Code of Practice 5 – Removal, Storage and disposal of human organs and tissue, Code of Practice 6 – Donation of allogenic bone marrow and peripheral blood stem, cells for transplantation. The HTA will issue further Codes of Practice and additional guidance later in 2006.

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