Gay men will be allowed to donate blood in France, the country's Social Affairs and Health Minister Marisol Touraine has announced.
Ms Touraine announced in Paris on Wednesday the exclusion on men who had sex with other men from donating blood would be lifted.
"Giving blood is an act of generosity, of civic responsibility, and the donor's sexual orientation cannot be a condition," she said.
She announced in 2012 that gay men would be able to donate blood following an amendment in France's National Assembly "stating that 'no one may be excluded from donating blood because of his sexual orientation', was adopted unanimously".
Since then the French government has been working closely with health authorities, patient associations, and LGBTI donors to make sure the donation system was secure.
The issue of homosexual men donating blood is a sensitive one in France as hundreds of people died in the 1980s when HIV-tainted blood was distributed nationwide and overseas.
The incident saw several senior civil servants, including the head of the transfusion service, jailed or fined and the beginning of mandatory HIV-testing of blood in 1985.
Ms Touraine said the work that had been done since 2012 had shown "A man who has sex with a man is statistically more likely to be exposed to HIV than a man who has relationships with women".
"These studies justify that we proceed in stages," she said.
The ban will officially end in spring next year when whole blood donations (the red cells, plasma and platelets) would be allowed for men who had not slept with another man for 12 months.
A man who had not slept with another man for four months, or who had only one partner, will be allowed to donate plasma.
The second stage, in about 12 months time, would see a re-evaluation of the rules surrounding homosexual blood donation based on how successful the lifting of the ban has been.
In Australia, and other developed countries including the United States, the Netherlands and Japan, gay men must wait 12 months after having sex with any other man before they can donate blood.
