New comparative study on surrogacy in the EU

Today the Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs will present a study on the different legal regimes for surrogacy motherhood in the European Union.

The short presentation can be watched live today at 15:00 (CET).

Last year the Committee ordered a comparative study on surrogacy lqaws and policies in EU Member States, in order to shed light on the wide variety of legal frameworks in the EU, and the problems that may ensue.

This is the first exhaustive legal research into surrogacy laws in Europe.

The study concludes that:

• Legal regimes vary widely between Member States (for a useful summary, see pp. 15-16).
• Very little data is available on surrogacy practices across the EU, despite it becoming more popular over recent years.
• There are numerous policy concerns about surrogacy at both national and international levels. More research would be beneficial to policy-making, and particularly qualitative research on the experience of surrogacy.
• While EU action in the area may be considered, a global approach may be more effective to regulate the global aspect of current surrogacy practices.

The study’s conclusions are summarised pp. 193-199.

There are currently no plans to create EU legislation in the field of surrogacy.

Read more:

• Download the study (PDF)