Assisted Reproductive Treatment Amendment (Consent) Act 2019 (Vic)

Assisted Reproductive Treatment Amendment (Consent) Act 2019

No. 24 of 2019

table of provisions

Section  Page

Part 1—Preliminary

1Purposes

2Commencement

3Principal Act

Part 2—Amendment of Principal Act

4Definitions

5Statute law revision

Part 3—Amendment of Status of Children Act 1974

6Application of Part

7Additional requirements for surrogacy arrangements without assistance of registered ART provider

8Regulations

9New Part IX inserted

Part 4—Repeal of this Act

10Repeal of this Act

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Endnotes

1      General information

Assisted Reproductive Treatment Amendment (Consent) Act 2019

No. 24 of 2019

[Assented to 27 August 2019]

The Parliament of Victoria enacts:

Part 1—Preliminary

1Purposes

The purposes of this Act are—

(a)to amend the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 to ensure that a married woman is not required to obtain the consent of her spouse to access a treatment procedure using donor sperm in circumstances where the woman is separated from her spouse; and

(b)to amend the Status of Children Act 1974—

(i)to ensure that the presumptions as to parentage operate consistently with the amendments made to the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008; and

(ii)to clarify requirements for counsellors for the purposes of surrogacy arrangements commissioned without the assistance of a registered ART provider.

2Commencement

(1)This Part, Part 4 and sections 5, 7 and 8 come into operation on the day after the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent.

(2)The remaining provisions of this Act come into operation on the day that is 28 days after the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent.

3Principal Act

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

Part 2—Amendment of Principal Act

4Definitions

In section 3 of the Principal Act, in paragraph (a) of the definition of partner, after "spouse" insert "(other than a spouse from whom the person has separated)".

5Statute law revision

(1)In section 3 of the Principal Act—

(a)for the definition of Health Services Commissioner substitute—

"Health Complaints Commissioner means the Commissioner within the meaning of the Health Complaints Act 2016;";

(b)in the definition of Secretary, for "Department of Health" substitute "Department of Health and Human Services".

(2)In section 124(f) of the Principal Act, for "Voluntary Register." substitute "Voluntary Register;".

Part 3—Amendment of Status of Children Act 1974

6Application of Part

At the end of section 12 of the Status of Children Act 1974 insert—

"(2)For the purposes of subsection (1)(b), a woman does not have a partner if, at the time of the procedure, she was married to but had separated from her spouse.".

7Additional requirements for surrogacy arrangements without assistance of registered ART provider

For section 23(3) of the Status of Children Act 1974 substitute—

"(3)For the purposes of subsection (2)(b), the person must have received counselling from—

(a)a counsellor who provides counselling on behalf of a registered ART provider; or

(b)a person who meets the prescribed requirements for providing counselling.".

8Regulations

At the end of section 41 of the Status of Children Act 1974 insert—

"(2)Regulations made under this Act—

(a)may be of limited or general application; and

(b)may differ according to differences in time, place or circumstance; and

(c)may confer discretionary authority or impose duties in connection with the regulations on any specified person or body or specified class of persons or bodies.".

9New Part IX inserted

After section 48 of the Status of Children Act 1974 insert—

"Part IX—Transitional Provisions—Assisted Reproductive Treatment Amendment (Consent) Act 2019

49Transitional provisions—Assisted Reproductive Treatment Amendment (Consent) Act 2019

Part III, as amended by the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Amendment (Consent) Act 2019, applies in respect of a pregnancy resulting from a procedure carried out on or after the commencement of section 6 of that Act.".

Part 4—Repeal of this Act

10Repeal of this Act

This Act is repealed on 8 October 2020.

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).

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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: 5 June 2019

Legislative Council: 20 June 2019

The long title for the Bill for this Act was "A Bill for an Act to amend the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 to ensure that a married woman is not required to obtain the consent of her spouse to undergo a treatment procedure using donor sperm in circumstances where the woman has separated from her spouse, to make consequential and other amendments to the Status of Children Act 1974 and for other purposes."