EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Ministerial Declaration of Corresponding State Law
Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002
Summary
Section 7 of the Commonwealth Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002 (RIHE Act) confers power on the Minister to declare a law to be a corresponding State law for the purposes of the RIHE Act. This Ministerial declaration provides that the specified parts of the Victorian Infertility Treatment Act 1995 (ITA) are such a corresponding State law.
Background
The RIHE Act, which received Royal Assent on 19 December 2002, regulates the use of human embryos for research where those embryos have been created for assisted reproductive technology and are excess to the couples’ needs. Section 7 of the RIHE Act provides that a ‘corresponding State law’ is, in effect, a law of a State (or Territory) which the Minister has declared to be corresponding.
Pursuant to an agreement reached by all jurisdictions at a Council of Australian Governments (CoAG) meeting in April 2002, each State and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) enacted its own legislation to achieve national consistency with the RIHE Act. After assessment by the Commonwealth, each such State and Territory Act was declared to be a corresponding State law for the purposes of the RIHE Act. Accordingly in 2003, specified parts of the ITA were declared to be a ‘corresponding State law’.
Subsequently, in 2006, the RIHE Act was amended in certain respects by the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction and the Regulation of Human Embryo Research Amendment Act 2006. A consequence of the amendments is that the ITA, in the form previously declared to be a ‘corresponding State law’, is no longer appropriate to be a ‘corresponding State law’. The relevant ministerial declaration has, accordingly, been revoked.
As a response to the Commonwealth’s changes to the RIHE Act, all jurisdictions (except the Northern Territory) agreed at a CoAG meeting in April 2007 to amend legislation to ensure national consistency in regard to the regulation of human embryo research. The Victorian legislature amended the ITA with effect from 12 June 2007, so that it is now in a form appropriate to be a ‘corresponding State law’ for the purposes of the RIHE Act.
The Victorian amending legislation is the Infertility Treatment Amendment Act 2006. This amended Part 2A and section 166 in the ITA. The relevant provisions now mirror the provisions of the RIHE Act.
Instrument
The effect of the instrument is to declare Part 2A and section 166 of the Victorian ITA to be a corresponding State law for the purposes of the RIHE Act.
Consultation
No consultation was undertaken in respect of this declaration as it is of a minor and machinery nature.
Commencement
This declaration is to take effect from the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.