This provision of the Human Tissue Act will be dealt with in a later paper. The question arises as to whether clinics should be able to utilise gametes or embryos brought to NSW from interstate or overseas, especially where the donors of the gametes or embryos have not been subject to the same screening procedures which may apply in NSW, or the same information has not been collected in relation to those gametes or embryos. The Victorian Act prevents the import or export of gametes and embryos except with the approval of the Infertility Treatment Authority. Directions under the Western Australian Act also prevent importation of gametes and embryos from outside the State unless all the information as required by the legislation for the Donor Register is available. Exemptions may be granted on compassionate or other grounds.
Some countries allow the payment of donors for genetic material.
An Australian couple may travel overseas and pay large sums of money for the right to use donor semen, ova or embryos. That couple could then make arrangements for that donor material to be transferred to NSW for treatment and implantation. The question may be asked as to whether this is something that the law of NSW should address. Some NSW clinics have had to resort to obtaining semen from interstate. Imposing restrictions upon the use of gametes collected interstate or overseas may only exacerbate this shortage.