Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2007

The following information on the Register can be accessed

The parents of a donor conceived child can access non-identifying information about the donor, for instance their medical history, ethnicity and physical characteristics

The donor can access non-identifying information about any children born using their donated gametes, such as their sex and year of birth

A child conceived using donated gametes will be able to access both identifying and non-identifying information about the donor, including the donor's name and date of birth, once they turn 18.

The Register will include the following information about a donor:

• the donor's full name
• the residential address of the donor (relevant at the time they donate gametes)
• the date and place of birth of the donor
• the ethnicity and physical characteristics of the donor
• any medical history or genetic test results of the donor or the donor's family that are relevant to the future health of:
  • a person undergoing ART treatment involving the use of the donated gamete;
  • any offspring born as a result of that treatment;
  • any descendents of any such offspring;
• the name of each ART provider who has previously obtained a donated gamete from the donor and the date on which the gamete was obtained, and
• the sex and year of birth of any child born using the games provided by the donor.

The mandatory Register does not operate retrospectively.  This means that the mandatory Register will only hold information on donors and children born using donated gametes who are conceived after 1 January 2010. 

If you donated gametes before the commencement of the ART Act, being 1 January 2010, your information will only be included on the mandatory Register if:

• your ART provider has a record of all of the required information about you, including your consent given in accordance with the ART Act; and
• your gametes are used after 1 January 2010; and
• the use of your donated gametes resulted in the birth of a child. 

If a child has been conceived as a result of ART treatment using your donated gametes and your information does not have to be included on the mandatory Register, you may wish to provide information about yourself to the voluntary donor register.

If you have embryos in storage, created using donated gametes, the donor's information will NOT be included on the Register if:

• the embryo was created before 1 January 2010 using donated gametes; and
• the embryo is used to provide ART treatment to a woman before 1 January 2015. 

While a donor's information will not be included on the mandatory Register, a donor may decide to include their information on the voluntary donor register.

If you have conceived a child using donated gametes before 1 January 2010 and you want to conceive another child using the same donor gametes, the donor's information will NOT be included on the Register if:

• the woman has, before 1 January 2010, already conceived a child as a result of ART treatment using a donated gamete from the donor; and
• the donated gamete was obtained before 1 January 2010; and
• the donated gamete is used to provide ART treatment to a woman before 1 January 2013

While a donor's information will not be included on the mandatory Register, a donor may decide to include their information on the voluntary donor register.

Section 27 of the ART Act prevents an ART provider providing ART treatment using donated gametes to a woman if that treatment is likely to result in offspring of the donor being born to more than 5 women. 

However, section 27 will not prevent ART treatment being given to a woman if the gamete used in the treatment is a donated gamete that was obtained before the 1 January 2010 and:

• an embryo was created using the donated gamete before 1 January 2010 and the embryo is used to provide the ART treatment to the woman within 5 years of the commencement (ie before 1 January 2015); or
• the woman has, before 1 January 2010, already conceived an offspring as a result of ART treatment using a donated gamete from the donor and the gamete is used to provide ART treatment to the woman within 3 years of the commencement (ie before 1 January 2013).