The Act creates several express duties and rights, many of them procedural. Below are the main ones with the statutory references and practical implications.
Donor rights and duties
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Right to give informed consent. An adult of sound mind has the right to give signed consent to removal of tissue for authorised purposes, provided medical advice has been given (s 8(1)). For non‑regenerative tissue, the donor must specify the time of signing and accept that the consent takes effect only after 24 hours (s 8(2)). Notes to the Act signal that advance personal plans and substitute decision processes under the Health Care Decision Making Act 2023 can operate to give or revoke consent for adults lacking capacity (s 8 notes; s 11 note).
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Right to revoke. A donor may revoke consent at any time by indicating revocation to specified persons (s 16). The revocation can be oral or in writing. Upon revocation, the donor has the right to receive the instrument of consent and any certificate held by the custodian once the custodian has been informed (s 17(2)).
Duties on recipients of revocation
- Immediate notification and inquiry duties. A medical practitioner or nurse who is told of a revocation must immediately inform the designated officer for the hospital (s 16A(1)). The designated officer or the medical practitioner who received the revocation (the responsible person) must make reasonable inquiries to discover whether any medical practitioner is proposing to rely on the consent (s 16A(3)). If the responsible person learns a medical practitioner is proposing to rely, they must immediately inform that practitioner of the revocation (s 16A(4)). Failure to inform an intending practitioner is a strict liability offence carrying a maximum penalty of 100 penalty units (s 16A(4)-(6)).
Duties and procedural safeguards for medical practitioners
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Certification duty. A medical practitioner may certify that consent was given in their presence, that they explained the nature and effect of the removal, and that the donor was over 18, of sound mind and freely consenting (s 10). A certificate under s 10 is a precondition to authorised removal under s 11 in some cases. The Act criminalises making misleading statements in a certificate given for the Act (s 27A). The Act also precludes a medical practitioner who gave the certificate under s 10 from removing the tissue under certain consents (s 11(2)(a)).
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Certification for brain death. Where respiration and circulation are artificial, two examiners (practitioners with five years’ practice, one a recognised specialist) must conduct examinations and each must certify irreversible cessation of all brain function before tissue may be removed (s 21(1)-(4)). The Act lists recognised specialties for this purpose (s 21(4) table).
Duties on designated officers for hospitals
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Inquiry before authorisation. A designated officer may authorise removal of tissue from a deceased hospital patient (s 18(1)), but must make reasonable inquiries first (s 18(2)). Failure to make the reasonable inquiries is a strict liability offence with a maximum penalty of 100 penalty units (s 18(2)-(3)).
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Delegation. Designated officers may delegate powers under the Act to registered health practitioners within the hospital provided they are satisfied as to suitable qualifications and experience (s 29).
Regulatory duties of the Chief Health Officer and holders of anatomy authorisations
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Issuing authorisations and conditions. The Chief Health Officer may, by Gazette notice, authorise specified anatomy teaching/practice at schools of anatomy and impose conditions which must be stated in the Gazette notice (s 22B(1)-(3)).
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Codes of practice. The Chief Health Officer may make codes of practice (s 22D(1)) dealing with transportation, procedures, returns/records, inspection and disposal (s 22D(2)-(5)). The Chief Health Officer must publish the code on the Agency's website and the code has no effect until published (s 22D(6)-(6A)).
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Duty of holders. Holders of anatomy authorisations must not engage in conduct that contravenes conditions of the authorisation (s 22C) and must comply with codes (s 22D(7)); both contraventions attract criminal sanctions.
Ministerial duty/authority
- Exceptional authorisations. The Minister may authorise, in writing and subject to conditions, a person to enter into otherwise prohibited contracts/arrangements for valuable consideration where satisfied there are “special circumstances” (s 22F). The Act does not define “special circumstances” and leaves scope to the Minister to set conditions in the authorisation.
Confidentiality and disclosure
- Duty to keep information confidential. The Act criminalises deliberate or reckless conduct that results in disclosure of confidential information identifying donors, recipients or persons associated with tissue removal (s 28(1)); exceptions are listed for court orders, hospital administration or bona fide research, consent of the person, and privileged communications (s 28(2)). Maximum penalties apply (s 28(1)).
Liability protection and good faith
- Exclusion of liability. s 25 provides that, subject to the Act, a person is not liable in civil or criminal proceedings for acts done pursuant to a consent or authorisation where the act is done without negligence and in good faith. Subsections (2)(a) and (b) describe circumstances that establish good faith, including honest reasonable belief that required consents were given or no reason to doubt the validity of purported consents.
Specific rights and constraints relating to commerce
- Prohibition on trading in tissue. Contracts for valuable consideration to supply tissue are criminalised (s 22E(1)) and void unless they fall within express exceptions (s 22E(2)-(4)). This creates a bright line against commercial purchase of tissue, with narrowly prescribed statutory exceptions and a ministerial override for special circumstances.
Timing and death determination
- Moment of death. For Territory law purposes, death is treated as occurring when either irreversible cessation of all brain function or irreversible cessation of blood circulation occurs (s 23). This statutory definition interacts with brain‑death certification requirements (s 21) and post‑mortem authorisations.
Duties to document and return instruments
- Custodial duties. Persons in possession of instruments of consent and certificates must return them to the donor on revocation (s 17(2)); failure to do so is an offence (s 17(2)) and an offence of strict liability (s 17(3)) unless a reasonable excuse is established (s 17(4)).
These duties and rights interact: e.g. the donor’s right of revocation creates immediate practical duties for hospital staff and designated officers to investigate and notify, and the medical certification and coroner provisions add procedural gating that affects clinician decision‑making. The Act mixes strict liability obligations (requiring careful administrative compliance) with a good‑faith shield (s 25) that depends on demonstrable honesty and absence of negligence.