Alert Digest No. 10 of 2001
Tuesday, 25 September 2001

The Bill amends the Infertility Treatment Act 1995 (‘the Act’) to –

• remove the requirement for spousal consent to donation when a couple is no longer living together as husband and wife on a genuine domestic basis,

• remove the ban on the use of embryos formed with the gametes of a person who has subsequently died and to,

• enable those who were involved in treatment procedures prior to 1 July 1988 to exchange information through the voluntary donor treatment procedure information register.

[2]. The amendments come into operation on the day after Royal Assent.

[4]. Amends sections 13, 15, 18 and 19 of the Act so that spousal consent to donation is not required when a couple is no longer living together as husband and wife on a genuine domestic basis. The more restrictive requirement for married couples to be formally divorced has been removed. An objection of the spouse lapses where a married or a de facto couple cease to live together as husband and wife on a genuine domestic basis.

[5]. Repeals paragraph (c) of section 43 of the Act so that the ban on the use in treatment procedures of embryos formed from the eggs or sperm of a person who has died subsequent to the formation of the embryo is removed.

[6]. Inserts a new Part 7A in the Act to provide that notwithstanding the prohibition in section 181(9) an eligible person involved with treatment procedures that took place prior to 1 July 1988 may put information on and receive information from the voluntary donor treatment procedure information register established under section 82 of the Act ("the Register"). An eligible person includes donors, recipient families, those born as a result of donations and their descendants, and the relatives of all of the above-mentioned people.

The new Part consists of new sections 92B to 92I.

92C. An eligible person may request the Infertility Treatment Authority to enter information on the Register. In addition, an eligible person may record his or her wishes about what information relating to him or her can be released from the Register and to whom such information can be made available. An eligible person may record his or her wishes about information he or she would like to receive from the Register about another person.

A person applying to enter information on the Register must be 18 years or over and information from the Register will not be released to a person who is not 18 years or over.

92D. The Authority may only release information from the Register in accordance with the wishes of the person who entered it on the Register.

92G. The Authority may only release information from the Register which will identify a person if, prior to the information being released, the Authority is satisfied that both the person who entered the information and is to be identified and the person who is to receive the identifying information have been appropriately counselled about the potential consequences of the disclosure.

The Authority may only release non-identifying information from the Register if the Authority is satisfied that both the person who entered the information and the person receiving it have been offered counselling on the potential consequences of disclosure.

92H. The requirement for counselling prior to the release of information can be waived by the Authority if a person who would be required to receive or to be offered counselling is dead or unable to be found or if the circumstances are such that counselling is not appropriate.

92I. It is an offence for a person to release information to which the new Part applies otherwise than in accordance with the new Part and a record must be kept of information released from the Register and to whom it was released.

The Committee makes no further comment.

Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee Last Updated 25/9/2001 ©Parliament of Victoria