purchase of a thing reward to a person for donating e.g. remuneration that is reward calculated as a wage recompense of a person for losses incurred. This can involve both reimbursement for financial losses and compensation for non-financial losses such as discomfort. Our proposed approach is intended to fall under the third category of recompense, recognising that donation involves both financial and non-financial losses. An increase in the level of expenses should be at a rate that does not leave donors in a significantly better position than they would have been in without donating. Justice Egg donation is intrusive and carries risks for donors. A comment by a submitter who had used donated eggs from both overseas and local sources captured the perspectives of many submitters: “An egg donor goes through so much physically to do a donor cycle – the hormone ups and downs, the injections, the invasive procedures, anaesthetics, etc, etc.” Another consumer noted the significant amount she had spent in her successful efforts to advertise for egg donors in New Zealand, arguing that she would rather have spent the money compensating a donor. Supply While increased compensation to donors may contribute to increasing the supply of donated gametes in New Zealand, we cannot quantify how many more donors would be likely to come forward. As noted by some submitters, the level of donation would not fall. However, an increased supply of donated eggs may in turn increase interest in using donated eggs in this country, whether or not consumers would have looked overseas for donated eggs. Decisions about who pays An increased level of available donor expenses would require decisions about who would bear the costs. Where procedures are publicly funded, expenses paid to donors might decrease the number of people able to be treated from the pool of available funding. Where procedures are privately funded, providers might pass on to intending parents the additional costs associated with a higher rate of expenses.
Import and export requirements in some comparable jurisdictions United Kingdom The United Kingdom provides for clinics to decide if the import and export of gametes and embryos is consistent with directions issued by Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). The directions include the following points. Clinics must be licensed to import and export. Transfer must be clinic to clinic. Gamete providers, including in the event that an embryo has been created, must give informed consent. Informed consent must include a written notice that the law in the other jurisdiction about the use of the material and the parentage of a resulting child may be different to that of the sending country. Clinics must report import and export within a set period to the HFEA, using standard documents. Gametes and embryos cannot be exported if they could not be lawfully used in the United Kingdom in the same way as proposed in the receiving country. While the directions apply to import and export for research as well as treatment, import and export for research purposes requires an application to the HFEA for Special Permission. The formal General directions covering import and export are available at: Australia Victoria The Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 requires that the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA) decide applications for import and export, for treatment purposes, of donated gametes and embryos created from donated gametes. VARTA’s guidelines are available at: w1/i1003328/ The requirements apply whether the import and export is between Victoria and another Australian state or between Victoria and overseas, and include the following points.
Appendix 1: Members of ACART The members of ACART are: Dr John Angus (Chair) Alison Douglass (Deputy Chair) Dr Karen Buckingham Jonathan Darby Nikki Horne Associate Professor Mike Legge Sue McKenzie Dr Barry Smith Further information about the members and ACART can be found on ACART’s website