An Act to prohibit human cloning for reproduction and other unacceptable practices associated with reproductive technology, and for related purposes

Part1Preliminary

1 Short title

This Act may be cited as the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002.

2 Commencement

(1) Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, on the day or at the time specified in column 2 of the table.

Commencement information

Column 1

Column 2

Column 3

Provision(s)

Commencement

Date/Details

1. Sections1 and 2 and anything in this Act not elsewhere covered by this table

The day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent

19December 2002

2. Sections3 to 26 and Schedule1

The 28th day after the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent

16January 2003

Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this Act as originally passed by the Parliament and assented to. It will not be expanded to deal with provisions inserted in this Act after assent.

(2) Column 3 of the table is for additional information that is not part of this Act. This information may be included in any published version of this Act.

3 Object of Act

The object of this Act is to address concerns, including ethical concerns, about scientific developments in relation to human reproduction and the utilisation of human embryos by prohibiting certain practices.

4 Operation of Act

(1) This Act applies as follows:

(a) to things done, or omitted to be done, by constitutional corporations;

(b) to things done, or omitted to be done, in the course of constitutional trade or commerce;

(c) to matters within the legislative power of the Commonwealth under paragraph51(xxix) of the Constitution;

(d) to the Commonwealth and Commonwealth authorities;

(e) for purposes relating to the collection, compilation, analysis and dissemination of statistics;

(f) to matters within the legislative power of the Commonwealth under paragraph51(xxxix) of the Constitution, so far as it relates to the matters mentioned in paragraphs(a) to (e) of this subsection.

(2) In this section:

constitutional corporation means a trading, foreign or financial corporation within the meaning of paragraph51(xx) of the Constitution.

constitutional trade or commerce means trade or commerce:

(a) between Australia and places outside Australia; or

(b) among the States; or

(c) by way of the supply of services to the Commonwealth or to a Commonwealth authority.

5 Act to bind the Crown

(1) This Act binds the Crown in each of its capacities.

(2) Nothing in this Act renders the Crown liable to be prosecuted for an offence.

6 External Territories

This Act extends to every external Territory.

8 Definitions

(1) In this Act:

animal does not include a human.

chimeric embryo means:

(a) a human embryo into which a cell, or any component part of a cell, of an animal has been introduced; or

(b) a thing declared by the regulations to be a chimeric embryo.

Commonwealth authority means the following:

(a) a body corporate established for a public purpose by or under an Act;

(b) a company in which a controlling interest is held by any one of the following persons, or by 2 or more of the following persons together:

(i) the Commonwealth;

(ii) a body covered by paragraph(a);

(iii) a body covered by either of the above subparagraphs.

excess ART embryo means a human embryo that:

(a) was created, by assisted reproductive technology, for use in the assisted reproductive technology treatment of a woman; and

(b) is excess to the needs of:

(i) the woman for whom it was created; and

(ii) her spouse (if any) at the time the embryo was created.

human embryo means a discrete entity that has arisen from either:

(a) the first mitotic division when fertilisation of a human oocyte by a human sperm is complete; or

(b) any other process that initiates organised development of a biological entity with a human nuclear genome or altered human nuclear genome that has the potential to develop up to, or beyond, the stage at which the primitive streak appears;

and has not yet reached 8 weeks of development since the first mitotic division.

human embryo clone means a human embryo that is a genetic copy of another living or dead human, but does not include a human embryo created by the fertilisation of a human egg by human sperm.

human sperm includes human spermatids.

hybrid embryo means:

(a) an embryo created by the fertilisation of a human egg by animal sperm; or

(b) an embryo created by the fertilisation of an animal egg by human sperm; or

(c) a human egg into which the nucleus of an animal cell has been introduced; or

(d) an animal egg into which the nucleus of a human cell has been introduced; or

(e) a thing declared by the regulations to be a hybrid embryo.

licence means a licence issued under section21 of the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002.

NHMRC Licensing Committee means the Committee established under section13 of the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002.

precursor cell means a cell that has the potential to develop into a human egg or human sperm.

spouse, in relation to a person, includes adefactopartner of the person within the meaning of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.

State includes the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.

woman means a female human.

(2) For the purposes of establishing that a human embryo clone is a genetic copy of a living or dead human:

(a) it is sufficient to establish that the set of genes in the nuclei of the cells of the living or dead human has been copied; and

(b) it is not necessary to establish that the copy is an identical genetic copy.

(3) For the purposes of the definition of human embryo in subsection(1), in working out the length of the period of development of a human embryo, any period when the development of the embryo is suspended is to be disregarded.

(4) For the purposes of the definition of human embryo clone in subsection(1), a human embryo that results from the technological process known as embryo splitting is taken not to be created by a process of fertilisation of a human egg by human sperm.

(5) For the purposes of paragraph(b) of the definition of excess ART embryo, a human embryo is excess to the needs of the persons mentioned in that paragraph at a particular time if:

(a) each such person has given written authority for use of the embryo for a purpose other than a purpose relating to the assisted reproductive technology treatment of the woman concerned, and the authority is in force at that time; or

(b) each such person has determined in writing that the embryo is excess to their needs, and the determination is in force at that time.

(6) A reference in this Act to an embryo (including a human embryo) is a reference to a living embryo.

(7) A reference in this Act to a human egg is a reference to a human oocyte.

(8) A reference in this Act to a human embryo does not include a reference to:

(a) a hybrid embryo; or

(b) a human embryonic stem cell line.

Part2Prohibited practices

Division1Practices that are completely prohibited

9 Offenceplacing a human embryo clone in the human body or the body of an animal

A person commits an offence if the person intentionally places a human embryo clone in the body of a human or the body of an animal.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 15 years.

Note: The development of a human embryo (including a human embryo clone) outside the body of a woman for more than 14 days is prohibited by section14.

10 Offenceimporting or exporting a human embryo clone

(1) A person commits an offence if the person intentionally imports a human embryo clone into Australia.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 15 years.

Read the original:
Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002