Assisted Reproductive Laws (Qld)

The Queensland Parliament recently passed the Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2024 to regulate the assisted reproductive technology (ART) industry in the state. The law is primarily concerned with the interests and welfare of those receiving ART treatment, as well as the interests and welfare of children born through reproductive technology. The provisions of the Act will come into force in stages to regulate assisted reproductive technology services in Queensland to bring them in line with services in other Australian jurisdictions. In particular, the new Act introduces licensing for ART providers, establishes the Donor Conception Information Register and creates a streamlined process for collecting reproductive material from individuals who cannot give consent themselves.

Assisted reproductive technology

The ART industry in Queensland is broad. It includes any paid or not-for-profit services such as:

• Any medical treatment that is designed to impregnate a person by a method other than sexual intercourse, and any related treatment. Examples of ART procedures include invitro fertilisation, artificial insemination and gamete (reproductive cell) intrafallopian transfer.
• The storage of embryos and gametes for use in an ART procedure; and
• Obtaining a gamete from a provider for use in an ART procedure.

Regulation of ART Providers

Previously, ART services in Queensland were regulated through voluntary adherence to the Ethical Guidelines of the National Health and Medical Research Committee and accreditation/licensing requirements from bodies such as the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand. There are now statutory regulations on who can provide ART services in the state and mandatory licensing requirements.

ART providers must understand the extent of their legal obligations under the law, which are outlined in this guidance policy. Under the new law, service providers must maintain established standards and will be subject to comprehensive regulation and regulatory enforcement. Queensland Health is empowered to regulate ART providers and take legal action against them if they breach the statutory provisions. Queensland Health inspectors can enter premises and inspect and seize property in relation to investigations into breaches of these regulations.

Prohibitions

The new statutory regulations reflect current best practice in the industry, with strict prohibitions against:

• sex selection of the baby (except where a particular sex reduces the risk of transmission of genetic disease or abnormality)
• use of gametes where both providers are closely related
• using a donated gamete or embryo if the result would be more than 10 donor-related families in Australia
• ART treatment on a minor child except in limited circumstances where the procedure is used to obtain a gamete for the child’s future benefit.

Retrieval of reproductive material

There is a streamlined framework for gamete retrieval from unresponsive and deceased individuals. Other Queensland legislation permits the posthumous retrieval of gametes from a deceased person, but the new Act introduces a regulatory regime for the use of material from an unresponsive or deceased person. Under the new rules, medical professionals can retrieve this material for an ART procedure if there is evidence that the person consented to the use of the reproductive material or would have been likely to have given their consent.

Donor conception information register

There is a new requirement for ART providers to collect and kept information on record about patients and gamete providers. ART providers can now disclose health information to impacted people.

There is also a statutory provision under the legislation for a new Donor Conception Information Register. The national director of Donor Conceived Australia, Aimee Shackleton, welcomed the initiative, saying that donor-conceived people in Queensland have “the same rights to their medical and family history as any other Australian”, and should be able to have contact with donors and siblings if both parties consent. Beyond the potential to create new familial connections, this Register has significant implications for individuals who want to make contact with biological family for medical reasons.

The Register will hold the information of every donor in the last 50 years, giving donor-conceived individuals (over the age of 16) access to information about their genetic origins. The Register will hold information including:

• The donor’s profile and contact information, full name, date and place of birth, ethnicity and physical characteristics, relevant medical history, and where the donor’s gamete was obtained
• The full name and date of birth of the birth parent of the donor-conceived child and the full name and date of birth of any spouse they have at the time of the procedure
• The donor-conceived person’s full name, date and place of birth and sex
• If the information is available, the number of donor-conceived siblings of the donor-conceived person
• The name of the ART provider and the place where the procedure was performed.

There are regulatory rules around the disclosure of the information held on the Register. For instance, donor-conceived individuals can access identifying and non-identifying information without the donor’s consent, though it will be necessary to have the permission of a donor to receive their contact information.

Annotated birth certificates

Under legislative amendment, if someone (of at least 16 years) applies for a birth certificate, and there is information about that person on the Donor Conception Register, the Register will add an addendum to the birth certificate. The addendum will state that there is more information about the individual’s birth available through the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages. This is intended to allow donor-conceived individuals to discover their birth origin independently, regardless of whether the parents choose to share the information with their child.

The recent changes to reproductive law in Queensland will provide greater transparency, oversight and safeguards in the ART industry. The legal team at Go To Court Lawyers can help explain these new regulations. Please contact our offices on 1300 636 846 for further information on this or any other reproductive or family law matter.