OCEANIA

Australia

�        Prohibition of Human Cloning Act No. 144- 2002

�        �An Act to prohibit human cloning and other unacceptable practices associated with reproductive technology and for related purposes�, 7 January 2003

http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/comact/11/6602/pdf/1442002.pdf

    

�        Research Involving Embryos Act No. 145-2002, 7 January 2003

http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/comact/11/6603/pdf/1452002.pdf

 

The ban covers creation of cloned embryos for therapeutic and reproductive purposes and an attempt to implant such embryo into a uterus.

Article 8: �A person commits an offence if the person intentionally creates a human embryo clone�

 

Article9: �A person commits an offence if the person intentionally places a human embryo clone in the body of a human or the body of an animal.�

 

�        Gene Technology Act 2000, which came into force in July 2001, prohibits �cloning of human beings� with criminal sanction (section 192B). It defines cloning of a whole human being as �the use of technology for the purpose of producing, from one original, a duplicate descendant that is, or duplicates or descendants that are, genetically identical to the original.�

 

�        At State level, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia have introduced into state laws regulations set out in the Gene Technology Act 2000.
 

 

New Zealand

�        The Medicines (Restricted Biotechnical Procedures) Amendment Act 2002

 

The Law provides temporary measures, pending the development of a comprehensive legislative regime, to control the use of cloning procedures for reproductive purposes. Under this Act, a procedure such as reproductive cloning may not be authorized by the Minister of Health unless it satisfies the following conditions:

a)      the conduct of the procedure or class of procedure does not pose an unacceptable risk to the health or safety of the public;

b)      any risks posed by the conduct of the procedure or class or procedure will be appropriately managed;

c)      any ethical issues have been adequately addressed;

d)      any cultural issues have been adequately addressed;

e)      any spiritual issues have been adequately addressed;

 (Unesco, Division on Ethics and Technology, September 2002)

 

In 2001, the Government decided to amend the HART Bill of 1996 through a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) referred to a select committee for public comment in May 2003. The Government�s intent is for resulting legislation to be enacted in early 2004. This proposed legislation would provide a permanent legislative framework for human reproductive cloning, superseding the 2002 Act. The SOP prohibits cloning for reproductive purposes, but allows therapeutic cloning, subject to further investigation and regulatory measures to be defined.

 (Unesco, Division on Ethics and Technology, April 2004)