The overseas clinic was also required to provide their donors with information about the legal situation in the UK with respect to legal parentage, anonymity and the keeping of information about donors on the HFEA's Register. The HFEA licences the storage of sperm and eggs including ovarian and testicular tissue where mature gametes are, or might be, present - that is, testicular tissue where boys have reached puberty and ovarian tissue from girls or women where a mature egg may be present. The Department of Health is currently considering a scheme for the regulation of the storage of human tissue, which would include ovarian and testicular tissue where no mature gametes are present. The Authority is following this initiative closely to ensure that this system will operate smoothly alongside the HFEA's own licensing process. The statutory storage period for gametes and embryos is ten and five years respectively.
Regulations allow the storage period for sperm and embryos to be extended in certain circumstances.
The first ten year period since the 1990 Act's implementation will end in August 2001. The HFEA plans to issue advice to centres on how they should prepare for this. The HFEA has issued a new consent form that can be completed by men eligible for storage of sperm beyond the statutory storage period of ten years in accordance with Regulations. In 2000 the HFEA reviewed its policy regarding the replacement of embryos produced by ICSI together with IVF embryos in a single embryo transfer. The HFEA recognised that, despite concerns about the effect mixed embryo transfers may have on the monitoring of ICSI practice, a mixed embryo transfer might be beneficial to some patients in exceptional circumstances.