Surrogacy arrangement in the EU
How is surrogacy arrangement accepted in the EU ?
The situation is various according to each countrie : some have legalised it, others borbid it meanwhile a majority of the Member-states tolerate it de facto.
legend :
red : forbidden by law
orange : no formal interdiction, de facto say-so
yellow : free surrogacy arrangement authorisation
vert : commercial surrogacy arrangement say-so
3 countries allow surrogacy arrangements : the United-Kingdom (1985), Greece (2002 and 2005) and Romania.
- In the UK : a judgement after birth is needed, compensations are possible but no remuneration ;
- In Greece : the enquired mother must prove she cannot be pregnant, surrogate mother must go through psychiatic tests, a judgement is needed, compensations are possible (£15 to 20 000) but no remuneration ;
- In Romania : the law says compensations are possible but do not forbid remuneration, consequently everybody can choose.
8 countries forbid surrogacy arrangements : France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Germany, Bulgaria and Malta.
- Spain allows foreign born children via a surrogacy arrangement to get the civil status certificate ;
- France doesn't accept the offical registration, children will have to ask for naturalisation. Therefore France was condamned by the ECHR on 2014-06-26. France didn't accept the french nationality to foreign born children via a surrogacy arrangement, two heterosexual couples made an appeal to the Cour de Cassation, the French supreme court, which deny the right of the children to be French. The 2 couples seized the ECHR, it does not judge about the legality of surrogacy arrangement but considers that refusing the French nationality is discriminatory and would be against the highest rights of chilren.(see the explanation of a lawyer, who may be partial !)
According to this lawyer, France may not anymore refuse to give the French nationality to foreign born children : the European right is higher to any national right of a country which is a CEDH member.
On the contrary, the catholic French newspaper, La Croix, says the CEDH only explains there is no common postion of signatory members.
In the other countries : the practical applications of surrogacy arrangements are very different according to the countries.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sources : touteleurope.eu, francetvinfo.fr, explication d'une avocate sur l'arrêt du 26-06-2014 de la CEDH, la-croix.com.
To go further : GPA en Roumanie, témoignage du Courrier International,