Compliance and Enforcement: Assisted Human Reproduction

The AHR Act and its Regulations establish the framework to help protect the health, safety, dignity and rights of individuals who use or are born of assisted human reproduction in Canada.

The Safety Regulations focus on reducing risks to human health and safety arising from the use of sperm or ova (eggs) for the purpose of AHR in Canada. The Safety Regulations include a set of requirements for the processing, importing, distributing or making use of donor sperm or ova (eggs) for the purpose of AHR, including measures related to the traceability of such sperm or ova (eggs).

The Safety Regulations set out a number of requirements that regulated parties must comply with, in relation to:

• donor suitability assessment
• tracing and identifying
• labelling and storage
• quality management
• personnel, facilities, equipment and supplies
• errors and accidents
• adverse reactions, and
• records

Registering with Health Canada

Primary establishments must register with Health Canada and are responsible for all of the processing activities with respect to sperm or ova for use in AHR, whether they conduct the activity themselves or another establishment is conducting the activity on their behalf.

Notifying Health Canada

Establishments that import or distribute donor sperm or ova for the purpose of AHR are required to notify Health Canada prior to importing or distributing activities.

The registration and notification application form for sperm and ova establishments is available in the Forms section.

Both primary establishments and establishments that only import or distribute must also submit an annual attestation of compliance by April 1 of each year.

Reporting Errors or Accidents

Establishments and health professionals that conduct an activity subject to the Safety Regulations are required to investigate and report their own errors and accidents to Health Canada and keep records, in accordance with the Safety Regulations.

The error and accident investigation reporting form is available in the Forms section.

The Reimbursement Regulations set categories of allowable expenditures that may be reimbursed in relation to the donation of sperm and ova, the maintenance and transport of IVEs, and surrogacy, as well as set out requirements for the reimbursement of loss of work-related income for surrogate mothers.

The Administration and Enforcement (Assisted Human Reproduction Act) Regulations set out a framework for enforcement. These set out activities that inspectors designated under the AHR Act by the Minister of Health may undertake to verify compliance with sections 8, 10 and 12 of the AHR Act, or to prevent non-compliance.

The Assisted Human Reproduction (Section 8 Consent) Regulations set out, among other things, the requirements in relation to the required donor consent for the use of human reproductive material, as required by section 8 of the AHR Act. These include provisions which help protect donor anonymity and related requirements such as record keeping and retention.