Source: European Parliament
In accordance with Article 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, the EU’s competence regarding organ donation and transplantation is limited to setting high standards for safety and quality. This is done through a dedicated directive[1].
The recently adopted Council conclusions on enhancing organ donation and transplantation[2], also call on the Commission to support national organisations of transplant services.
The Commission will continue supporting Member States for knowledge sharing, training and collaboration, building on the achievements and insights gained from the 2009-2015 action plan[3].
To that end, the Commission has initiated discussions on the Council conclusions between the 27 national competent authorities on organ transplantation, to identify the way forward and possible actions and deliverables.
While this could possibly include actions focusing specifically on paediatric transplants, many horizontal actions are also expected to benefit these.
For example, the FOEDUS Joint Action[4], which among others delivered an exchange platform for ‘difficult-to-match’ organs, regularly allows for the exchange of organs for paediatric transplants.
In addition, a specific European Reference Network (ERN)[5] was established in 2017 for paediatric transplants, namely ERN TRANSPLANT-CHILD[6].
It thus benefits from funding dedicated to the 24 ERNs and their registries under the EU4Health Programme. It is also involved in EU-funded research projects such as PROTECT-CHILD[7] and benefits there from funding from the EU research and innovation framework programme Horizon Europe.
- [1] Directive 2010/45/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on standards of quality and safety of human organs intended for transplantation (OJ L 207, 6.8.2010, p. 14-29).
- [2] Council conclusions on enhancing organ donation and transplantation approved by the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (Health) at its meeting on 3 December 2024: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-16568-2024-INIT/en/pdf
- [3] Action plan on Organ Donation and Transplantation (2009-2015): Strengthened Cooperation between Member States. COM(2008) 819 final https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0819:FIN:EN:PDF
- [4] https://www.foedus-eoeo.eu/#/public
- [5] https://health.ec.europa.eu/rare-diseases-and-european-reference-networks/european-reference-networks_en
- [6] https://transplantchild.eu/
- [7] A PRivacy-prOTecting Environment for Child Transplants health-related and genomic data integration in the European Reference Network: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101137423