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12 Plasma KCE Reports 120
The principle of unpaid donation is of key importance for the practical and technical
organization of blood donation, as the main points of the EU ethical and regulatory
framework should remain stable over the next years.
Key points
• Principles underpinning blood and plasma donation are specific to this kind
of donation. Making the best use of donated blood or plasma can be seen as
an ethical duty.
• Ethical donation is not contradictory with a concept of compensation or
other incentives, within strict limits.
• It must be borne in mind that in countries were compensation is applied,
plasma donors are generally younger, more educated, and less involved in
professional life than whole blood donors. Conversely, in countries where no
financial compensation is provided no clear distinction, in terms of donors’
profile, has been identified so far.
2.1.2 Plasma collection in Belgium
2.1.2.1 Current legal framework
In Belgium, as in any country, blood and plasma donation can be considered as an
individual gift or a good deed, based on personal motives and/or beliefs (altruism or any
philosophical or religious belief) but also as a collective commitment, especially in a
professional context.
For this reason, making public institutions and private firms (SMEs or bigger firms)
aware of this problem and mobilizing their employees for blood donation has been one
of the most important missions of the Red Cross over the last decades.
However, the situation of the employees is utterly different, whether they work in a
private or a public context.
Private Law Contracts
The Belgian Private Work Contract Act (3 rd July 1978) sets out all the key rules
concerning the rights and duties of employers and employees. This Act addresses the
different types of contract (worker’s contract, employee’s contract, sales
representative, etc…) and covers the whole range of traditional work law issues.
However, it remains silent about possible leave or days off for blood or plasma
donation. Legally speaking, specific provisions, measures or arrangements can be set out
only in the policies and procedures of each firm, but actual implementation of these
measures (or arrangements) is left to the employer’s discretion.
The employees are generally allowed, in this exceptional case, to leave the office just for
the time spent for donation, (generally between 1 and 2 hours) but may be requested to
make up for the “time lost” (“lost” from the employer’s point of view).
In practice, blood or plasma collection is often performed by the Red Cross’s teams
during or around a lunch pause, and employees hardly ever benefit from specific leave
for donation.
Public Law Contracts
Virtually all the Belgian public law institutions have set out specific provisions, measures
or arrangements in the employee’s contracts to enable them to benefit from specific
leave or days off for “philanthropic purposes” which covers, inter allia, blood and
plasma donation (as well as bone marrow and tissue donation). However, regulatory
rules vary widely across institutions and regions, as described below: