Human Cloning and Other Prohibited Practices Act 2004

Human Cloning and
Other Prohibited Practices
Act 2004

2020 REVISED EDITION

This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021

An Act to prohibit the placing of a human embryo clone in the body of a human or an animal and certain other practices associated with reproductive technology.

[1 October 2004]

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

Short title

1. This Act is the Human Cloning and Other Prohibited Practices Act 2004.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“animal” does not include a human;

“Director” means the Director of Medical Services;

“enforcement officer” means the Director and any other public officer or any officer of any statutory authority who is appointed by the Director under section 4 to be an enforcement officer for the purposes of this Act;

“human embryo” means any live embryo that —

(a)	has a human genome or an altered human genome; and
(b)	has been developing for less than 8 weeks since the appearance of 2 pro‑nuclei or the initiation of its development by other means;

“human embryo clone” means any 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;

“prohibited embryo” means —

(a)	any human embryo that has been developing outside the body of a woman for a period of more than 14 days, excluding any period when the development is suspended;
(b)	any human embryo that was removed from the body of a woman by a person intending to collect a viable human embryo; or
(c)	such other thing as may be prescribed to be a prohibited embryo for the purposes of this Act;

“prohibited practice” means any of the practices prohibited under Part 3.

(2) For the purposes of establishing that a human embryo clone is a genetic copy of another 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 not to be taken as created by a process of fertilisation of a human egg by human sperm.

Act to bind Government

3. This Act binds the Government.

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