On Friday 25 May 2012, a bill aimed at reforming the law on organ transplants was adopted by a large majority of the German parliament from all parties.
Currently in Germany, a donation of an organ from a deceased person can take place only if the person explicitly stated before death that "he/she wanted to be a donor and had a donor’s card." In the absence of this explicit consent, "the family can make the decision in the light of the explicit or implicit wish of the deceased."
The legislative revision requires Social Security offices to regularly ask their contributors from the age of 16 if they wish to become donors "of all or some of their organs” and invite them "to fill in the donor card provided on that occasion." However, "citizens will not be obliged to decide for or against the donation of organs and, if they wish, they can simply ignore the card."
BE Allemagne 573 31/05/12 – AFP 25/05/12