Last update:
06-Feb-2008

After Dolly's birth and subsequent health problems, there was a flurry of legislative interventions in medical reproductive research, which produced various regulations that in some cases -France, for example- went as far as to include therapeutic research. Greek legislation introduced laws 3089/2002 and 3305/2005 within a period of just two years, seeking to regulate, rather late in the day compared to other Western countries, matters touching upon medically assisted reproduction. Both statutes regarding medically assisted reproduction have been formulated within the framework of the principles and values endorsed by the Greek Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine and the additional protocol, which have been incorporated into Greek law. The interests of the child are also protected by the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Largely, however, the statutes constitute a point of compromise between the technological advances in genetic material manipulation made by biology and biomedicine and the principles of bioethics. In an effort to deal with rapid scientific advances, the Greek law belatedly utilises legal regulations to create rules reflecting the general and collective will. The first law, 3089/2002, resolved basic questions regarding "Medically Assisted Human Reproduction" and regulated the ensuing consequences for the institutions of kinship and inheritance. The second law 3305/ 2005 provided solutions to issues regarding the preconditions for using methods of medically assisted reproduction, the availability and handling of genetic material, insurance coverage, and the establishment and operation of Medically Assisted Reproduction Clinics and Cryopreservation Banks. Finally, law 3305/2005 provides not only for the creation of an independent national administrative authority with jurisdiction over biolaw, but also for criminal and administrative penalties in the event that its provisions are violated.

Key words: Assisted reproduction, Cryopreservation banks, Medical institutions for assisted reproduction, National agency of medically assisted reproduction, Penalties.