Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2004

Preliminary provisions

3: Purposes

You could also call this:

"What the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2004 is trying to achieve"

Illustration for Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2004

The Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2004 is a law that has several purposes. You will see that it aims to protect and promote the health, safety, dignity, and rights of all individuals, especially women and children, when it comes to assisted reproductive procedures and human reproductive research. It also seeks to stop unacceptable practices and certain commercial transactions related to human reproduction.

This law wants to make sure that assisted reproductive procedures and human reproductive research are done in a safe and responsible way. You need to know that it requires approval from an ethics committee for these procedures and research to happen. The law also wants to help people who are born from donated embryos or cells to find out about their genetic origins.

The Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2004 is in place to regulate and guide assisted reproductive procedures and human reproductive research. You can think of it as a framework that helps ensure everything is done properly and safely.

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This page was last updated on 6 August 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM319247.

Topics:

Health and wellbeing > Healthcare servicesRights and equality > PrivacyFamily and relationships > Children and parenting

2: Commencement, or

"When the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2004 starts being used as law"

4: Principles, or

"Guiding rules to keep people safe and respected when making decisions about assisted reproduction"

Part 1Preliminary provisions

3Purposes

This Act has the following purposes:
to secure the benefits of assisted reproductive procedures, established procedures, and human reproductive research for individuals and for society in general by taking appropriate measures for the protection and promotion of the health, safety, dignity, and rights of all individuals, but particularly those of women and children, in the use of these procedures and research:
to prohibit unacceptable assisted reproductive procedures and unacceptable human reproductive research:
to prohibit certain commercial transactions relating to human reproduction:
to provide a robust and flexible framework for regulating and guiding the performance of assisted reproductive procedures and the conduct of human reproductive research:
to prohibit the performance of assisted reproductive procedures (other than established procedures) or the conduct of human reproductive research without the continuing approval of the ethics committee:
to establish a comprehensive information-keeping regime to ensure that people born from donated embryos or donated cells can find out about their genetic origins.