Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024
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Grant of parental order - international surrogacy | ||
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103. (1) (a) Subject to paragraph (b) and subsections (2) to (5), the court may grant an order pursuant to a section 102 application if it is satisfied that— | ||
(i) subject to section 81 (4), the international surrogacy meets all of the requirements specified in section 89 (1) and that the undertaking referred to in section 89 (1)(d) has been complied with, | ||
(ii) the intending parents (or, in the case of a single intending parent, that intending parent) named in the application consent (or, in the case of a single intending parent, consents) to the granting of the order, | ||
(iii) the surrogate mother consents to the granting of the order, | ||
(iv) at the time of the hearing of the application, the child continues to reside with the intending parents or one of them (or, in the case of a single intending parent, that intending parent) named on the application, and | ||
(v) the granting of the order is in the best interests of the child. | ||
(b) A parental order shall include the particulars referred to in section 102 (1)(b)(i). | ||
(2) (a) The court may waive a requirement that the child (as indicated in paragraph (b) of the definition of “surrogacy jurisdiction”) has been born in the approved surrogacy jurisdiction concerned if it is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances justifying such waiver. | ||
(b) The court may waive a requirement under subsection (1) for consent from an intending parent, in the case of two intending parents, if he or she— | ||
(i) is deceased, | ||
(ii) cannot be located after reasonable efforts have been made to find him or her, or | ||
(iii) lacks the capacity to make a decision in that regard. | ||
(c) The court may waive a requirement under subsection (1) for consent from the surrogate mother if she— | ||
(i) is deceased, | ||
(ii) cannot be located after reasonable efforts have been made to find her, or | ||
(iii) lacks the capacity to make a decision in that regard. | ||
(3) In determining, under subsection (1)(a)(v), what is in the best interests of the child, the court shall have regard to all the circumstances that it considers relevant to the child who is the subject of the section 102 application concerned, including— | ||
(a) the child’s age and maturity, | ||
(b) the physical, psychological and emotional needs of the child, | ||
(c) the likely effect of the granting of the parental order on the child, | ||
(d) the child’s social, intellectual and educational needs, | ||
(e) the child’s upbringing and care, | ||
(f) the child’s relationship with his or her intending parents (or, in the case of a single intending parent, that intending parent), and | ||
(g) any other particular circumstances pertaining to the child. | ||
(4) The court shall, in relation to its consideration of a section 102 application and in so far as is practicable, in respect of any child who is capable of forming his or her own views, ascertain those views and give them due weight having regard to the age and maturity of the child. | ||
(5) Proceedings under this section shall be heard otherwise than in public. | ||
(6) At any time on or after the court receives a section 102 application and a relevant authority is not already a party to the proceedings, the court may, at any stage of the proceedings, of its own motion or on the application of any party to the proceedings, direct that all necessary papers in the matter be sent to the relevant authority. | ||
(7) Where, at any time on or after the court receives a section 102 application, a relevant authority requests to be made a party to the proceedings, the court shall order that the relevant authority be added as a party, and, whether or not the relevant authority so requests, the relevant authority may argue before the court any question in relation to the application which the court considers necessary to have fully argued and take such other steps in relation thereto as the relevant authority thinks necessary or expedient. | ||
(8) The court may direct that notice of a section 102 application shall be given to such other persons as the court thinks fit and where notice is so given to any person the court may, either of its own motion or on the application of that person or any party to the proceedings, order that that person shall be added as a party to those proceedings. | ||
(9) In this section, “relevant authority” means— | ||
(a) the Attorney General, or | ||
(b) the AHRRA. |