The Health and Care Act 2022 (Storage of Gametes and Embryos) (Transitional Provision) Regulations 2024

These Regulations make transitional provision under section 186(9) and (11) of the Health and Care Act 2022 (c. 31) (the “2022 Act”) in relation to the storage of gametes and embryos for the treatment of a certain cohort of people who died before 1st July 2022. That is the date on which Part 1 of Schedule 17 to the 2022 Act introduced amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (c. 37) (the “1990 Act”): (a) to extend to 55 years the maximum storage period for gametes and embryos which is provided for in section 14(3) of the 1990 Act and (b) to enable storage of such material for up to 10 years after the death of the person who provided it, after which their consent is taken as withdrawn. Part 2 of Schedule 17 to the 2022 Act made general and specific transitional provision in connection with the effect of those amendments on material already in storage. These Regulations add to the specific transitional provisions in that Part by addressing the duration of consent for the storage of gametes or embryos which began before 1st July 2022, where a person whose material was placed into storage for the purposes of infertility treatment had died before that date and where the maximum storage period applicable to the material was governed by the Regulations referred to in regulations 2(1)(b) and 3(1)(b) of this instrument. In such cases, the maximum period for which the material may be stored is determined by those Regulations, with effect from 1st July 2022, as if the Regulations had continued in force. The new 10 year limit applicable to storage of gametes and embryos after a person has died is also disapplied (regulations 2 and 3).