6. Is access to surrogacy subject to specific criteria?
a. medical criteria (e.g. infertility of the intended parent(s)) Yes
b. other criteria (please specify) Yes
There are no rules or regulations for surrogacy set by the government, apart from the criminal prohibition of (commercial) mediation between intending parents and surrogate mothers.
The guideline of gynecologists states that for surrogacy by means of IVF, a medical indication is necessary (uterus-based infertility of the mother, or a condition of the mother which is life threatening when pregnant). Medio 2016 an additional indication was added, i.e. male intended parents. Until then, also both gametes needed to be donated by the intended parents. This was changed; now treatment is also allowed if only one of the intended parents donates a gamete. That made IVF-surrogacy accessible to male couples. In 2019 the first clinic has started a pilot performing this treatment for male couples.