6. Is access to surrogacy subject to specific criteria?
a. medical criteria (e.g. infertility of the intended parent(s)) No
b. other criteria (please specify) No. Surrogacy is not regulated by law. The Czech MAR Society has issued recommendations (exclusively medical indications, weighting with the applicants' own gametes, transfer of a single embryo, age of the surrogate mother under 49, surrogate mothers’ permanent residence in the Czech Republic, etc.), but the compliance is not enforceable.
13. Who is recognised as the legal parent(s) of a child born following surrogacy?
a. surrogate mother Yes. Czech law: the woman who gives birth is the legal parent
b. oocyte donor No
c. sperm donor No
d. intended mother No, she has to go through the adoption procedures
e. intended father Yes, if the surrogate is not married and if she determines the intended father as the child's father
14. Do mechanisms exist to transfer parentage from the surrogate mother to the intended parent(s) (e.g. adoption procedures)? Yes, adoption
15. Is the existence of a genetic link required for establishing paternity/maternity? No, in cases of MAP.
16. Are the other parties involved mentioned in the birth certificate or other official document connected to the birth?
a. surrogate mother Yes, before the adoption
b. oocyte donor No
c. sperm donor No
d. intended mother No at first, after adoption yes
e. intended father Yes, if the surrogate is not married
17. Are foreign birth certificates in surrogacy cases registered in your country. Yes. Very recently (mid May 2018). The reason is the best interest of the child.
8. Can the surrogate also be the oocyte donor? Theoretically, because there is no law. The Czech MAP Society has issued recommendation not to use her eggs.
5. Is surrogacy prohibited in your country?
a. any form of surrogacy Yes
b. only specific forms of surrogacy (e.g. commercial) (please specify) NA
11. If surrogacy is forbidden, is the conduct of the following persons criminalised by the law?
a. surrogate mother No
b. intended parent(s) No
c. gamete donor No
d. facilitator Yes
12. Subject to the applicable law, are you aware of the following unlawful practices in your country? The Federal Government is not aware of any of the unlawful practices referred to in a. to e. in Germany. However, since oocyte transfer is prohibited too, German artificial reproduction clinics cannot engage in any form of surrogacy.
a. remuneration of the surrogate No
b. remuneration of the gamete donor No
c. advertising for surrogacy services No
d. remuneration of facilitators No
e. any other unlawful practices (please specify) No
1. Is surrogacy regulated by a specific law in your country? No specific law, but specific provisions in more general laws
2. Is surrogacy regulated in another way? (please specify) No. It is considered illegal in Sweden because by Swedish law (lagen (2006:351) om genetisk integritet) a woman may only be inseminated or implanted if it is done with either her egg cells or her partner’s semen. In the case of single women it needs to be her own egg cells. A breach against this regulation for economical gain is sanctioned.
3. Has surrogacy been the subject of jurisprudence/court cases in your country? No. Not surrogacy as such, but the consequences for a child conceived by surrogacy are not accommodated to the situation, and therefore there are court rulings in adoption cases/ custodianship of children. As late as March 18th 2016 the Court of Appeal admitted a genetic mother to adopt twins conceived by surrogacy abroad (Svea Hovrätt, ÖÄ 945-16). In January 20th 2015 The Court of Appeal concluded that an American court decision declaring two men as the legal parents of a child born after a surrogacy arrangement in the United States should be accepted in Sweden. One of the men was the genetic father of the child (Svea Hovrätt Ö9822-14), (The Court of Appeal gave a similar ruling on 7th October 2014 in Svea Hovrätt Ö6952-14.) In an early case in the Supreme Court on 7th July 2006 the genetic mother was denied adoption because the genetic father and the surrogate mother (who was the sister of the genetic father) withdrew their consents after the couple had separated.
4. Is there a legal definition of the term “surrogacy”? (please specify) No
9. Is it lawful to advertise surrogacy services? It is proposed that advertisements seeking a person to act as a surrogate or offering to act as a surrogate will be prohibited.
10. Is it lawful to remunerate a facilitator/surrogacy agency It is proposed that it will be an offence to receive renumeration for arranging a domestic surrogacy agreement. Under the proposed provisions regarding international surrogacy agreements, the utilisation of intermediaries abroad may be permitted if certain conditions are met.
13. Who is recognised as the legal parent(s) of a child born following surrogacy? As surrogacy is not recognised by law in Türkiye, there is not any answer to this question.
a. surrogate mother
b. oocyte donor
c. sperm donor
d. intended mother
e. intended father
14. Do mechanisms exist to transfer parentage from the surrogate mother to the intended parent(s) (e.g. adoption procedures)?No
15. Is the existence of a genetic link required for establishing paternity/maternity? Yes. This can be done in case of any forensic medicine queries, not for surrogacy context which is unlawful in Türkiye
16. Are the other parties involved mentioned in the birth certificate or other official document connected to the birth? No
a. surrogate mother
b. oocyte donor
c. sperm donor
d. intended mother
e. intended father
17. Are foreign birth certificates in surrogacy cases registered in your country No
8. Can the surrogate also be the oocyte donor? NA
9. Is it lawful to advertise surrogacy services? No, surrogacy advertising is banned
10. Is it lawful to remunerate a facilitator/surrogacy agency No, remuneration of a facilitator/surrogacy agency is banned
13. Who is recognised as the legal parent(s) of a child born following surrogacy? The legal parent is the biological parent, that is the father. Under Italian law, the mother is the one who gave birth to the child. The partner of the father (the biological parent), can only establish filiation with the child through adoption: the intended mother through L.44/1983, art.44; the same can be applied to the second father, due to ruling No. 38162 of Dec. 30, 2022, Supreme Court of Cassation 's United Civil Section.
a. surrogate mother
b. oocyte donor
c. sperm donor
d. intended mother
e. intended father
14. Do mechanisms exist to transfer parentage from the surrogate mother to the intended parent(s) (e.g. adoption procedures)? Surrogate pregnancy is prohibited in Italy: there is no ad hoc mechanism enabling transfer of a filiation link from the surrogate mother to the intended parent. The only possible exemption enabling the woman who has not given birth to be identified as the mother is therefore adoption through L.44/1983, art.44.
15. Is the existence of a genetic link required for establishing paternity/maternity? Yes: The genetic link allows the paternal filiation. NO: see answer n.13
16. Are the other parties involved mentioned in the birth certificate or other official document connected to the birth? No, only the biological parents can be mentioned in the birth certificate
a. surrogate mother
b. oocyte donor
c. sperm donor
d. intended mother
e. intended father
17. Are foreign birth certificates in surrogacy cases registered in your country No, see answer n.16
5. Is surrogacy prohibited in your country?
a. any form of surrogacy Yes
b. only specific forms of surrogacy (e.g. commercial) (please specify) No
8. Can the surrogate also be the oocyte donor? Yes
5. Is surrogacy prohibited in your country?
a. any form of surrogacy No
b. only specific forms of surrogacy (e.g. commercial) (please specify) Commercial
1. Is surrogacy regulated by a specific law in your country? No
2. Is surrogacy regulated in another way? (please specify) Yes
a. family code art 2 and 123
b. Ministry of Health of Ukraine, orders N 52/5 jan18x2000
3. Has surrogacy been the subject of jurisprudence/court cases in your country? Yes. Very rare, when conflict during the surrogacy process appeared.
4. Is there a legal definition of the term “surrogacy”? (please specify) Yes. Order N787 from 9/09/2013 on medically assisted procreation and reproductive technologies.
11. If surrogacy is forbidden, is the conduct of the following persons criminalised by the law? NA
a. surrogate mother
b. intended parent(s)
c. gamete donor
d. facilitator
12. Subject to the applicable law, are you aware of the following unlawful practices in your country? No
a. remuneration of the surrogate
b. remuneration of the gamete donor
c. advertising for surrogacy services
d. remuneration of facilitators
e. any other unlawful practices (please specify)
18. Is there:
a. any public discussion about the topic Yes
b. planning of new regulation at national level Yes
19. Please specify any additional relevant aspects which were not mentioned.
Draft proposal on surrogacy from Iceland
Background
Main elements of the proposed Icelandic legislation on Altruistic Surrogacy
13. Who is recognised as the legal parent(s) of a child born following surrogacy?
a. surrogate mother Yes, birth mother is the legal mother - see note on the MR and Anor – v- An tArd Chlaraitheoir & Ors [2014] case
If the surrogate mother is married, then under the Status of Children Act 1987, the surrogate mother's husband is presumed by law to be the father of the child. The husband will also, along with the surrogate mother, be the joint guardian of the child.
If the commissioning father is the genetic father of the child, it is possible to overcome the presumption of paternity in favour of the surrogate mother's husband, so as to allow the commissioning father to be recognised as the legal parent of the child. The commissioning father will need to provide evidence of paternity in support of this application.
If the surrogate mother is not married, and the commissioning father is the genetic father of the child, then the Irish authorities may recognise his paternity of the child on receipt of reliable DNA evidence.
As provided for under the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, gamete/embryo donors are not regarded to be the parent(s) of donor-conceived children.
b. oocyte donor No
c. sperm donor No
d. intended mother No
e. intended father Yes
14. Do mechanisms exist to transfer parentage from the surrogate mother to the intended parent(s) (e.g. adoption procedures)?
See previous note. In addition, it is proposed that the legislation on assisted human reproduction will establish a court-based mechanism for transfer of parentage from the surrogate (and her husband) to the intending parents. At least one of the intending parents will have to be genetically related to the child.
15. Is the existence of a genetic link required for establishing paternity/maternity? As previously stated, the birth mother is automatically regarded as the legal mother under the Irish Constitution. See notes under Q 13 re paternity and Q 14 re transfer of parentage in cases of surrogacy.
16. Are the other parties involved mentioned in the birth certificate or other official document connected to the birth?
a. surrogate mother Yes, birth mother is always the legal mother
b. oocyte donor No
c. sperm donor No
d. intended mother No
e. intended father Yes, so long as he is the genetic father
The proposed legislation will establish a national surrogacy register where the contact details of any person involved in a surrogacy, e.g. sperm or oocyte donor, intending parent and surrogate, will be recorded. Once a person born to a surrogate reaches the age of 18, he or she may access the full information contained in the national surrogacy register, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
17. Are foreign birth certificates in surrogacy cases registered in your country No
18. Is there:
a. any public discussion about the topic Yes
b. planning of new regulation at national level Yes
19. Please specify any additional relevant aspects which were not mentioned. N/A
7. If surrogacy is allowed, is it lawful for the surrogate mother to receive:
a. refund of medical expenses N/A
b. refund of other expenses N/A
c. compensation for loss of income N/A
d. other compensation including non-pecuniary N/A
e. remuneration or comparable advantage N/A