Clause 29 - Prohibition of commercial dealings in human material
Human Tissue Bill
4:30 pm
Dr Evan Harris (Oxford West and Abingdon, Liberal Democrat)
No, the point that I am trying to make is that the Human Organ Transplants Act 1989 made it an offence for someone in Great Britain at that time—I believe that there is now separate provision for Scotland, but I am happy to be corrected as to extent of the Bill—to do some of those things anywhere in the world. Therefore, a person committed an offence if, as in subsection (1)(a), he
''gives or receives a reward for the supply of, or for an offer to supply, the body of a deceased person or any relevant bodily material''
anywhere in the world, even though he is committing the offence in this country. The provision may not be required any more, but it was suggested to me that the geographical area where the transactions that were being prohibited could take place was being restricted, by default, to England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
I shall not go through all the areas where my amendments make it clear that the provision applies elsewhere, but they can be seen at the end of lines 41 and 43 on page 18, and lines 2, 5, 8 and 10 on page 19. Therefore, I am probing whether there has been a specific change and, if there has, what the motivation and justification are for apparently restricting the provision. As I said, the clause may apply to offences committed anywhere in the world. In that case, it is not clear that the committing of the offence is restricted either. I should be grateful for clarification.