This paper attempts to delineate the main tenets of Spanish interpretation of the Tissue Directive, which, arguably, constitute the "ideal" model traced by the Directive. The different ways in which ideals of altruism and solidarity have played out in the implementation or translation of the Directive are underlined. But it also highlights the difficulties and conflicts that the application of this pattern has already revealed, as for example, in the governance of private cord blood banking and oocyte donation.