Permanently banning homosexual and bisexual men from donating blood is discriminatory, the Dutch human rights commission said on Wednesday.

In addition, research by the University of Maastricht and the privatised Dutch blood donor service Sanquin shows this is no longer necessary to ensure blood safety, the commission said in its ruling.

Currently men who have had sex with other men are banned from giving blood because of the risk of passing on the hiv virus.

Health minister Edith Schippers said last month she was in favour of lifting the ban.

The case was taken to the commission by a bisexual man who had been refused permission to become a blood donor by Sanquin.