– down from a 1-year deferral period. norway 1 year 1 year peru no deferral no deferral philippines indefinite poland no deferral no deferral portugal no deferral no deferral romania no deferral no deferral russia no deferral no deferral san marino no deferral no deferral serbia 6 months singapore indefinite 1 year south africa no deferral no deferral south korea indefinite no deferral slovakia 1 year slovenia no deferral no deferral spain no deferral no deferral sri lanka indefinite indefinite sweden 6 months 6 months since 1 may 2021 sweden lowered the deferral period from 1 year to 6 months. switzerland 1 year 1 year taiwan indefinite indefinite in 2018 taiwan proposed new regulations that would have allowed men who have sex with men to donate blood after a 5-year deferral period, starting tentatively in may that year. those regulations were never fully approved, and in may 2019 the ministry of health and welfare clarified that the rules had not changed. thailand indefinite indefinite trinidad and tobago 3 months no deferral according to the ministry of health's website, prospective donors who have had male-to-male sexual intercourse are deferred for three (3) months after their last intimate encounter with no mention regarding women who have had sex with men who have sex with men compared to (now dead) ttconnect site. turkey indefinite ukraine no deferral no deferral united arab emirates indefinite indefinite united kingdom no deferral no deferral anyone who has had anal sex with a new partner or multiple partners in the last three months, regardless of their gender or their partner's gender, must wait three months before donating. united states 3 months 3 months due to the covid-19 pandemic in the united states causing a shortage of blood, the food and drug administration (fda) reduced the deferral period from 12 months to 3 months in april 2020. originally this did not apply to gay or bisexual males who continued to be prohibited from donating blood regardless of time even if they never had sex with other men but the fda started to allow some gay and bisexual males to donate blood in may 2023 with the same 3 month deferral that applies to other people. in may 2023, the fda formally approved removing the automatic msm 3-month defferal period and instead restricting people who have had anal sex outside of a monogamous relationship within the last 3 months. these changes are yet to be implemented and might possibly take time. uruguay no deferral no deferral venezuela indefinite no deferral people of any sexual orientation involved in any kind of sexual activity are welcome to donate blood, if they are confident that their sexual behaviour is safe and does not expose them to sexually transmitted diseases by e.g. unprotected sex with non-trusted partners, regardless of sexual orientation. individuals are requested to fill a "yes/no" questionnaire about their sexual life. direct questions like "have you ever had any sexual intercourse with someone from your same sex?" could appear. blood donation policies for men who have sex with men -men who have sex with men may donate blood; no deferral -men who have sex with men may donate blood; temporary deferral -men who have sex with men may not donate blood; permanent deferral -no data blood donation policies for female sex partners of men who have sex with men -female sex partners of men who have sex with men may donate blood; no deferral -female sex partners of men who have sex with men may donate blood; temporary deferral -female sex partners of men who have sex with men may not donate blood; permanent deferral -no data europe several european countries do not have deferral policies for men who have sex with men (msm). the donation is allowed if the donor has not had a risky sexual encounter, but not depending on the sexual orientation of the donor. for example, in italy, the questionnaire item for sexual behaviour is symmetrical with respect to homosexual, heterosexual and bisexual intercourses and mentions them explicitly, as well as all points of sexual contact (oral, genital, anal), and does not mention usage of protection. the uk since november 2017 has implemented a 3-month deferral policy on all gay/bi men who want to donate their blood. however, this did not apply to northern ireland until 2020. the advisory committee on the safety of blood, tissues and organs recommended the policy change after a study concluded that a total ban may breach equality legislation and that the risk of hiv reaching the blood supply would only increase by approximately 2%. in december 2020, it was announced that the uk would move to a personalised sexual behaviour risk assessment and scrap the deferral period specific to msm. in ireland, msm may donate blood if they have not engaged in oral or anal sex with another man at least 12 months prior to a donation. this policy came into effect on 16 january 2017. on 27 july 2015, tomás heneghan, a 23-year-old university of limerick student, and journalist from galway began a legal challenge in the high court against the permanent deferral imposed on msm donors. he argued that the questionnaire and interview process used by the ibts does not adequately assess the risk of disease transmission posed by his donation. he claims this is in breach of eu law. he said that both failed to consider the length of time between a donor's last sexual experience and the end of a "window period" in which infections are sometimes not detected. heneghan's previous sexual activity posed no risk of infection, according to hse-approved advice and he said the service had no evidence upon which it could legitimately impose a life-long ban on him donating blood. following several adjournments of the case to allow the blood service and department of health to examine and develop the donation policies, in late june 2016 the irish blood transfusion service recommended that the lifetime ban on msm be reduced to a 12-month ban. later that week the minister for health simon harris agreed to the recommendations and announced the reduction would take place. however, no timeline was reported for the implementation of the new policies. on 26 july 2016, tomás heneghan dropped his high court challenge against the service as an end to the lifetime deferral on msm blood donors had been announced in the interim. heneghan then wrote about his experiences of challenging the ban in a number of national media outlets. on 2 october 2016, it was reported that minister harris would implement the new policy from 16 january 2017, almost seven months after he announced the policy change. on 16 january 2017, heneghan (now 25) attended a blood donation clinic in d'olier street, dublin, and became the first man who has had sex with another man to donate blood openly in the republic of ireland since the lifetime deferral policy was first introduced in the 1980s. however, he also criticized the new 12-month deferral policy on msm and called on ireland's health minister to initiate a review of the ibts and replace the 12-month deferral period for msm with no deferral or a 3-month deferral on all donors following sexual intercourse. on 20 may 2019, heneghan (27) initiated a fresh legal challenge in the high court against the blanket deferral on men who have had oral or anal sex with another man in the previous 12-month period. heneghan claims he cannot understand the reasoning behind the ibts policy and argues that the questionnaire does not enable the ibts to make a full evaluation of the level of risk presented by an individual donor due to their sexual behaviour. he also states that according to the ibts's own website, there is a window period following infection during which hiv and hepatitis may not be detected in the blood and that this window is seven days for hiv and 16 days for hepatitis. he claims that a far less onerous restriction could be imposed rather than the 12-month deferral, which would protect blood recipients. he claims the decision to place an "automatic deferral" on him is unlawful and in breach of eu law and european communities regulations on the quality and safety of human blood products and that the policy is disproportionate, discriminates against homosexual and bisexual men, and breaches his constitutional rights and rights under the european convention on human rights. the case is due to return to the court in july 2019. in july 2019, a gay man in ireland filed two formal complaints with the european commission against the department of health and the irish blood transfusion service, and the northern ireland blood transfusion service (the only part of the united kingdom to maintain a 12-month deferral policy for msm) over the msm one-year deferral policy. the man, who has chosen to have his complaints examined by the commission anonymously, is alleging the ban in both jurisdictions violates a number of european union laws, including two european union directives covering the standards of quality and safety for the collection of blood by eu member states, as well as provisions contained in both the eu charter of fundamental rights and the european convention on human rights. the commission has informed the man his complaints will now be considered in light of eu law. a similar policy exists in the rest of the european union and is the prevailing interpretation of the european union directive 2004–33/ec article 2.1 on donor deferrals. the policy, however, is not very specific and refers to "high-risk sexual contact". the uk interprets the directive to include all forms of homosexual sex as falling within 2.2.2 of annex iii to the directive "persons whose behaviour or activity places them at risk of acquiring infectious diseases that may be transmitted by blood", requiring a deferral based on the window period for the diseases involved, and sets this at 12 months, despite the annex suggesting 6 months for risk of exposure to hepatitis b. hélder trindade, president of the portuguese institute of blood and transplantation (ipst), stated in 2015 that sexually abstinent homosexuals may give blood, but that msm is definitely seen as a risk factor. from march 2022, the republic of ireland will reduce the deferral period from 1 year to 4 months. in finland, the parliamentary ombudsman launched an investigation on the possible unconstitutionality of the lifetime ban in january 2006. in june 2008, it was concluded that the ban was not unlawful in finland as it is based on "appropriately reasoned epidemiological information" and because it is related to sexual behaviour rather than sexual orientation. the ombudsman added that people over the age of 65 and people who lived in britain during the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) outbreak are also screened out during blood donor interviews. in december 2013, the finnish red cross blood service announced it was lifting the ban and introducing a one-year deferral instead. in 2021, the deferral period in finland was reduced to 4 months. in july 2016, france implemented a 1-year deferral period policy on all gay and bisexual men donating blood. then the blood msm deferral policy implemented in france was lowered to 4 months effective on 1 february 2020. new zealand at the formation of the new zealand blood service (nzbs) in 1998, the deferral period had been 10 years but was reduced to 5 years in 2009. this was following an independent review of blood donation criteria in 2007–2008 which found no significant difference in risk of the blood supply for a deferral period of 5 years compared to 10 years. in 2014, the nzbs dropped the ban period from 5 years to 1 year following the recommendation of medsafe. their decision was mainly caused by new information about hiv transmission in australia which already had a one-year deferral period. the 1-year deferral commenced 15 december 2014. on 14 december 2020 the nzbs reduced the deferral to 3 months. the 3 month deferral period for msm is on par with the 3-month deferral period for several other behavioural categories carrying a higher probability of unrecognized hiv infection, such as persons engaging in sex work and people who have resided in a country that has a high (1% or more) hiv prevalence. united states in the