Assisted Reproductive Treatment Amendment Act 2020 (Vic)

Assisted Reproductive Treatment Amendment Act 2020

No. 15 of 2020

table of provisions

Section  Page

1Purpose

2Commencement

3Principal Act

4Definitions

5Persons who may undergo treatment procedures

6Requirements as to consent

7Section 12 repealed

8Section 14 repealed

9Application for review

10Section 42 substituted

11Functions of Panel

12Decision by Patient Review Panel

13Repeal of this Act

═════════════

Endnotes

1      General information

Assisted Reproductive Treatment Amendment Act 2020

No. 15 of 2020

[Assented to 10 June 2020]

The Parliament of Victoria enacts:

1Purpose

The main purpose of this Act is to amend the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 to remove requirements for criminal records checks and child protection order checks to be carried out before a woman may undergo a treatment procedure.

2Commencement

(1)Subject to subsection (2), this Act comes into operation on a day or days to be proclaimed.

(2)If a provision of this Act does not come into operation before 2 September 2020, it comes into operation on that day.

3Principal Act

In this Act, the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 is called the Principal Act.

4Definitions

In section 3 of the Principal Act, the definitions of child protection order, child protection order check, criminal records check and police officer are repealed.

5Persons who may undergo treatment procedures

(1)For section 10(2) of the Principal Act substitute—

"(2)For subsection (1)(b)(i), the criteria applicable to the woman is that a doctor is satisfied, on reasonable grounds, that—

(a)in the woman's circumstances, the woman is unlikely to become pregnant other than by a treatment procedure; or

(b)the woman is unlikely to be able to carry a pregnancy or give birth to a child without a treatment procedure; or

(c)the woman is at risk of transmitting a genetic abnormality or genetic disease to a child born as a result of a pregnancy conceived other than by a treatment procedure, including a genetic abnormality or genetic disease for which the woman's partner is the carrier.".

(2)In section 10(3) of the Principal Act, for "subsection (2)(a)(iii)" substitute "subsection (2)(c)".

6Requirements as to consent

In section 11(1) of the Principal Act—

(a)in paragraph (b), for "place; and" substitute "place.";

(b)paragraphs (c) and (d) are repealed.

7Section 12 repealed

Section 12 of the Principal Act is repealed.

8Section 14 repealed

Section 14 of the Principal Act is repealed.

9Application for review

In section 15(1) of the Principal Act—

(a)paragraph (a) is repealed;

(b)in paragraph (b), for "section 10(2)(a)" substitute "section 10(2)".

10Section 42 substituted

For section 42 of the Principal Act substitute—

"42   Application of general requirements for treatment to surrogacy arrangement

For the purposes of applying Division 2 of Part 2 to a treatment procedure carried out under a surrogacy arrangement, the requirement to comply with the criteria in section 10(2) does not apply to the surrogate mother.".

11Functions of Panel

Section 85(1)(b) of the Principal Act is repealed.

12Decision by Patient Review Panel

Section 91(1)(b) of the Principal Act is repealed.

13Repeal of this Act

This Act is repealed on 2 September 2021.

Note

The repeal of this Act does not affect the continuing operation of the amendments made by it (see section 15(1) of the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984).

═════════════

Endnotes

1   General information

See for Victorian Bills, Acts and current authorised versions of legislation and up-to-date legislative information.

Minister's second reading speech—

Legislative Assembly: 20 February 2020

Legislative Council: 19 March 2020

The long title for the Bill for this Act was "A Bill for an Act to amend the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 to remove requirements for criminal record and child protection order checks to be carried out before a woman may undergo a treatment procedure and for other purposes."