Article 1 of the Saudi Organ Donation Law

This is the definitions article. It explains the meaning of words that recur throughout the law, and each term is understood in the sense given here unless the context requires otherwise. Among the most important points it sets out:

• Human organ: any part of the body of a living or deceased person, or its tissues or components, that can be used by transferring it to another person, other than blood. Blood donation is therefore not subject to the provisions of this law.
• Person: a human being of full legal capacity who is over 18. This matters because Article 2 gives a "person" the right to donate or to bequeath a donation.
• Donor: one who authorized, during his lifetime, the transfer of an organ from him during his life or after his death, or one whose heirs or relatives agreed to the transfer after his death.
• Bequest: the donor's authorization for the transfer of his organs after his death, without consideration.
• Death: the departure of life with certainty, according to precise medical criteria, such that return is impossible, as a result of the stopping of the heart and lungs or of the brain stem.
• Organ transfer: removing the organ or part of it from the donor and implanting it in the recipient by a medical method approved by the Center.

The article also defines the bodies concerned: the Saudi Health Council and its chairman, the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation and its Director General, the public or private health facilities that the regulations designate, and the license that authorizes a facility to carry out removal or transplant operations.