Key laws and policies
- Council of Europe Convention on Biomedicine and Human Rights and Additional Protocol on Cloning (1997, 1998), ratified by Law 31(III)/2001, Article 38
Prohibited practices
Ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Biomedicine and Human Rights and Additional Protocol on Cloning commits Cyprus to prohibit:
- Inheritable genetic modification
- Reproductive cloning
- Research cloning
- Sex selection for social purposes
- PGD for social purposes
- Somatic genetic enhancement
Regulatory activities
Note regarding surrogacy: At present there are no laws governing surrogacy in Cyprus, and couples seeking such treatment either go abroad or make private arrangements. However, such arrangements may leave legal uncertainty as they are not regulated.
Laws concerning surrogacy have been under consideration by the Cyprus government for some time. A bill introduced in Parliament in January 2014, Bill on the Application of Medically Assisted Human Reproduction, would:
- Strictly prohibit commercial transactions and advertising of a woman's intention to be a surrogate or for a couple seeking a surrogate.
- Permit gestational surrogacy using the eggs and sperm of a heterosexual couple intended to be parents, or using the eggs and sperm of donors if the intended parents cannot use their own eggs/sperm. The couple would then be granted legal parentage.
- Require pre-approval by the Court, medical and psychological screening of the surrogate mother, and the intended parents' responsibility for all costs related to the pregnancy.
The surrogate or intended mother may challenge motherhood, if it is proven the child is genetically related to the surrogate.
The current status of the bill is unknown.
