9. Is it lawful to advertise surrogacy services? No

10. Is it lawful to remunerate a facilitator/surrogacy agency  No

1.           Is surrogacy regulated by a specific law in your country? Surrogacy is forbidden by law             

2.           Is surrogacy regulated in another way? (please specify) No

3.           Has surrogacy been the subject of jurisprudence/court cases in your country? Not for the moment

4.           Is there a legal definition of the term “surrogacy”? (please specify) No      

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        

• refund of medical expenses       
• refund of other expenses            
• compensation for loss of income             
• other compensation including non-pecuniary   
• remuneration or comparable advantage

8.            Can the surrogate also be the oocyte donor? N/A

11.         If surrogacy is forbidden, is the conduct of the following persons criminalised by the law? Surrogacy is not explicitly prohibited and is commonly performed. So far this has not happened, although there are reports of overstepping Czech law. However, where there is no prosecutor (so far), there is no judge. If a plaintiff were found, any of the persons mentioned could be criminalized if they were found to have violated the prohibition against financial gain from the human body or the prohibition against trafficking in human beings, especially women and children.

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?             

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) Yes

For several years, the Czech Republic has been a country where Ukrainian surrogate mothers go to give birth and hand over their children to foreign clients, usually single men. However, giving birth and registering a child when both parents agree is not in itself a criminal offence. The procedure is cleverly planned by the actors into successive steps in different countries, where each partial step is legal. The Czech police have been monitoring these practices for a long time in cooperation with other countries. However, international surrogacy obviously cannot be solved without common international legislation.  

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.           

9.            Is it lawful to advertise surrogacy services?  Yes. No specific prohibition, these procedures are offered, for example, on the sites of the MAR centers. However, the Czech Transplantation Act says: Advertising and advertising for the purpose of demand or offer of organs are prohibited       

10.         Is it lawful to remunerate a facilitator/surrogacy agency No. No agency officially exists yet. But at least one private centre seeks out prospective surrogate mothers and offers mediation to those interested in the procedure.

5.            Is surrogacy prohibited in your country?              

a. any form of surrogacy No             

b. only specific forms of surrogacy (e.g. commercial) (please specify)  Yes. According to Czech legislation, the human body and its parts must not be a source of financial gain.    

1.            Is surrogacy regulated by a specific law in your country?   Yes. 

Pursuant to section 1 subsection (1), no. 7, of the Act on the Protection of Embryos [Embryonenschutzgesetz, ESchG], a person who undertakes to perform an artificial insemination on a woman who is prepared to give up her child permanently after birth to third parties (surrogate mother) or to transfer a human embryo to her is liable to imprisonment of up to three years or a fine. In such case neither the surrogate mother nor the person who wishes to permanently take care of the child is liable to punishment.

Pursuant to section 13c of the Adoption Placement Act [Adoptionsvermittlungsgesetz, AdVermiG], the procurement of surrogate mothers is prohibited by law in Germany.    

2.            Is surrogacy regulated in another way? (please specify)  NA

3.            Has surrogacy been the subject of jurisprudence/court cases in your country?   Yes

Domestic surrogacy has not been subject of (civil law) jurisprudence due to strict prohibitions.

So far the courts have delivered only a few judgments dealing with the recognition of foreign judicial decisions issued following an international surrogacy arrangement.

In its leading decision of 10 December 2014, the Federal Court of Justice recognised a judgment from California establishing paternity of two German male nationals on the basis of a surrogacy agreement. The surrogate mother was not married, an anonymous egg donor was used and the child was, therefore, genetically related to only one of the intended fathers.

The Federal Court of Justice held that the recognition of a foreign judgment establishing a legal parent-child relationship between the child and the intended parents does not lead to a result that is obviously incompatible with significant principles of German law (ordre public) if (at least) one of the intended parents is genetically related to the child and the surrogacy mother is not. Whether the intended parents are of the same sex and live in a registered life partnership (or are married) or whether they are of a different sex and are married is not decisive. What is crucial for the possibility of recognition, according to the Federal Court of Justice, is whether or not the child was transferred by the surrogate mother into the care of the intended parents voluntarily – although this was not problematic in this particular case.

According to the Federal Court of Justice, binding the child to the legal maternity of the surrogate mother, as would follow from Section 1591 of the Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch – BGB), is not in the child’s best interest, because the surrogate mother does not want to take care of the child and because the foreign state will not acknowledge the legal maternity of the surrogate mother due to the foreign judgment.

The jurisprudence established by the Federal Court of Justice’s ruling has already been referred to by the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf in its decision of 7 April 2015 and several other German courts thereafter. The Federal Court of Justice itself subsequently further reaffirmed and specified its case law in two decisions of 5 September 2018 and 12 January 2022.

For instance, it held that the voluntary nature of the surrogate mother's cooperation is not called into question by the fact that the surrogate mother receives money in return or that there is a social disparity between her and the intended or appointed parents.

Recent first instance court decisions point to an even broader recognition of foreign surrogacy judgments, as the genetic link between one of the intended parents and the child has been declared of lesser relevance than the free and informed decision of the surrogate mother to accept the transfer of parenthood to the intended parents as well as the child’s best interests’ assessment.

4.            Is there a legal definition of the term “surrogacy”? (please specify)  Yes. See answer to question 1.

1.            Is surrogacy regulated by a specific law in your country?   Yes. The law of Georgia on Health Care (LHC) - Chapter XXIII Family Planning.      

2.            Is surrogacy regulated in another way? (please specify)  No

3.            Has surrogacy been the subject of jurisprudence/court cases in your country?   No

4.            Is there a legal definition of the term “surrogacy”? (please specify)  No

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        

• refund of medical expenses       
• refund of other expenses            
• compensation for loss of income             
• other compensation including non-pecuniary   
• remuneration or comparable advantage

9.            Is it lawful to advertise surrogacy services?  Not regulated by law       

10.         Is it lawful to remunerate a facilitator/surrogacy agency Not regulated by law

8.            Can the surrogate also be the oocyte donor? NA

13.         Who is recognised as the legal parent(s) of a child born following surrogacy?    NA 

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)?  NA

15.         Is the existence of a genetic link required for establishing paternity/maternity? NA 

16.         Are the other parties involved mentioned in the birth certificate or other official document connected to the birth?   NA

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

18.         Is there:              

a. any public discussion about the topic.  No

b. planning of new regulation at national level   No  

19.         Please specify any additional relevant aspects which were not mentioned.  NA        

1.            Is surrogacy regulated by a specific law in your country?   No. The Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 (the AHR Bill) was introduced to, and passed Second Stage in, the Dáil (lower House of the Irish Parliament) in March 2022. The focus of this Bill is on the regulation, for the first time in this country, of a wide range of assisted human reproduction (AHR) practices undertaken within the jurisdiction. The Bill as initiated provided for domestic altruistic surrogacy but did not contain provisions to regulate surrogacy arrangements undertaken in other jurisdictions. In March 2024 the Bill passed Committee Stage (Third Stage) in the Dáil. The AHR Bill, as amended at Committee Stage, includes new provisions in respect of the regulation of international surrogacy agreements and the recognition of certain past surrogacy arrangements.

2.            Is surrogacy regulated in another way? (please specify) No, but in February 2012, the Department of Justice and Equality issued a guidance document to parents seeking travel documents for children born outside the State as a result of surrogacy arrangements entitled: Citizenship, Parentage, Guardianship and Travel Document Issues in Relation to Children Born as a Result of Surrogacy Arrangements Entered Into Outside the State. A pre-condition of granting emergency travel documents is that the genetic father (intending father) makes an application for a declaration of parentage and guardianship for the child within 10 working days of the arrival of the child into the State.

3.            Has surrogacy been the subject of jurisprudence/court cases in your country?  

MR and Anor – v- An tArd Chlaraitheoir & Ors [2014]

This case concerned an arrangement whereby a woman agreed to act as a surrogate for her sister and brother-in-law (the commissioning couple). The commissioning couple provided the genetic material (egg and sperm), which ultimately resulted in the birth of twins. The commissioning couple sought to have the birth register altered so that the commissioning couple were both registered as the legal parents. The Registrar refused to do so, on the principle that under Irish law the woman who has given birth to a child is always regarded as the legal mother. That refusal was challenged in the High Court.

In his judgment of 5th March 2013, Judge Abbott found in favour of the commissioning couple. He held that the genetic mother, and not the birth mother, was the mother, and that the person with the genetic/blood link was entitled to be registered as the parent on the birth certificate.

In February 2014, the State appealed Judge Abbott’s decision on the grounds that: it could create uncertainty regarding the parentage and parental rights of children born as a result of egg donation; demean the role of birth mother; lead to an opinion that commercial surrogacy is not unlawful; and result in the Registrar requiring genetic proof of maternity for every birth.

In November 2014 the Supreme Court overturned the High Court decision on the basis that the case had raised important, complex and social issues which are best addressed by the Oireachtas rather than the judiciary.

High Court Ruling:

http://www.courts.ie/Judgments.nsf/bce24a8184816f1580256ef30048ca50/e3f0dc917872554c80257b250052dab3?OpenDocument

Supreme Court Ruling: http://www.courts.ie/Judgments.nsf/0/E238E39A6E756AB480257D890054DCB6

4.            Is there a legal definition of the term “surrogacy”? (please specify) No. 

A legal definition of the term in the AHR Bill, as initiated, is as follows:

“‘surrogacy’ means an agreement, between a woman and the intending parents (or, in the case of a single intending parent, that intending parent) under which the woman agrees to attempt to become pregnant, by the use of an egg other than her own, and, if successful, to transfer the parentage of any child born as a result of the pregnancy to the intending parents (or, in the case of a single intending parent, that intending parent)”.

However, this definition is subject to amendment and may not be the version in the finalised AHR legislation by the time it has passed through all stages in both Houses of the Oireachtas and has been enacted.

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        

7.            If surrogacy is allowed, is it lawful for the surrogate mother to receive:  It is proposed that the reimbursement of reasonable, receptable expenses will be permitted which might include: any pre-natal or post-natal medical expenses associated with the pregnancy or birth; expenses associated with the surrogate mother receiving counselling, independent legal advice; maternity clothing, paid housework or childcare undertaken by persons other than the surrogate mother; the expense of reimbursing the surrogate mother for any loss of income but only for a) a period of not more than 6 months during the which the birth happened or was expected to happen; b) any other period during the pregnancy or thereafter, not exceeding 12 months in total, when the surrogate mother was unable to work on medical grounds related to the pregnancy or birth.

a. refund of medical expenses 

b. refund of other expenses 

c. compensation for loss of income      

d. other compensation including non-pecuniary               

e. remuneration or comparable advantage       

• refund of medical expenses       
• refund of other expenses            
• compensation for loss of income             
• other compensation including non-pecuniary   
• remuneration or comparable advantage              

6.            Is access to surrogacy subject to specific criteria?             

a. medical criteria (e.g. infertility of the intended parent(s))      

It is proposed that access to surrogacy will be made available on the basis of medical need.

b. other criteria (please specify)        

The proposed legislation sets out additional criteria which must be met by the intending parents in order for the surrogacy to be approved by the Regulatory Authority, the establishment of which the draft legislation also provides for. Under the draft legislation, for example, each intending parent must be 21 years of age or over and at least one intending parent in each surrogacy must be habitually resident in Ireland.

6.            Is access to surrogacy subject to specific criteria?    See answer to question 2.      

a. medical criteria (e.g. infertility of the intended parent(s))       

b. other criteria (please specify)