1. Is surrogacy regulated by a specific law in your country? No specific law, but specific provisions in more general laws
Article 12 (general prohibitions and penalties), section 6 of Law n°40/2004 on assisted reproduction techniques bans surrogacy (“Whoever, in any form, produces, arranges or advertises the sale of gametes or embryos or surrogate motherhood is punished with imprisonment from three months to two years and a fine ranging from 600,000 to one million euros”).
Pursuant to the Italian Constitution, the combined provisions of Articles 2, 30 and 31 preclude its legitimacy, thereby stating the irreplaceability of both personal and economic duties related to parental responsibility incumbent upon genetic parents, alongside the child’s right to be raised by the latter and to be entitled to a substitute family only when the parents’ incapacity is objectively certified.
In addition, Article 5 of the Italian Civil Code prohibits any actions on one’s own body when causing a permanent damage to physical integrity or when violating Law, public order or decency.
2. Is surrogacy regulated in another way? (please specify) No
3. Has surrogacy been the subject of jurisprudence/court cases in your country? Yes, judgments by Italy’s Supreme Court (n. 24001/2014) and the Constitutional Court (n.162/2014) confirmed the prohibition of Law no.40/2004. Particularly, in judgment n° 162/2004, the Court ruled that “the technique under examination must be strictly restricted to the donation of gametes and kept separate from other different methods, such as “surrogate pregnancies”, which are expressly prohibited under Article 12(6) of Law no. 40 of 2004, the prohibition of which has not been challenged and is not affected in any way and at any point by this ruling, and will hence continue to be valid and effective”.
4. Is there a legal definition of the term “surrogacy”? (please specify) No