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The working group set up by the SEAP-IAP addresses in this Part II some general considerations and five particular considerations to be taken into account when a biological sample of human origin, coming from our archives, acquires a different destination from the usual one, in this case for research. From this moment on, we must follow mandatory legal and ethical rules, and the different recitals provide us with guidelines to ensure good practice, both for biological material and its associated data. The traditional task of custody given to the Pathological Anatomy is approached, as always, from the point of view of responsibility and, in this article, adjusted to its time., (Copyright © 2024 Sociedad Española de Anatomía Patológica. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The correct storage of specimens in the Pathology service is of vital importance for patient safety. However, there are no clear recommendations as regarding how long samples should be stored for a minimum period., Material and Methods: A working group of the Spanish Society of Anatomic Pathology has reviewed a series of recommendations established in the literature and after two rounds of consultations and a discussion and voting phase has established a series of storage time proposals., Results: Each of the proposals is presented with the data found in the literature and sometimes offers definitions and exceptions to the proposal., Conclusion: These recommendations, which are minimums, establish a period of at least 10 years for paraffin embedded blocks (including cell blocks), histological preparations, general cytology, pathologic cervico-vaginal cytology and electron microscopy blocks; at least 3 years for cervico-vaginal cytology, 5 years for extracted nucleic acids, at least 4 weeks for tissue in formalin and from the time of diagnosis for liquid cytology material and fluids., (Copyright © 2024 Sociedad Española de Anatomía Patológica. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)