Canada will allow gay and bisexual men to donate blood without restrictions starting in September.

In response to the AIDS crisis, Canada in 1992 banned men who have sex with men from donating blood for life. In 2013, a deferral period was implemented, allowing gay men who had been celibate for five years to donate blood. That was later eased to a three-month period.

Starting on September 30, the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) will introduce a new behavior-based questionnaire to screen donors on whether they engage in risky sexual behaviors.

CBS, which collects most of the nation's blood donations, requested the policy change last year.

Similar bans have been falling across the globe in recent years, including in the UK, France, and Brazil.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal party promised to end the ban during the 2015 election.

Trudeau on Thursday said that the policy change was long overdue and called the current ban “discriminatory and wrong.”

A three-month ban on gay men donating blood remains in the United States.

(Related: White House says Biden is committed to ensuring gay blood ban is based on science, not stigma.)