Czech Republic

Czech Republic Information Region Europe Population 10381130 GDP (millions USD) 175,309 National Policies Eggs for assisted reproduction commercial prohibited Eggs for research ? Inheritable genetic modification PROHIBITED Preimplantation genetic diagnosis social uses prohibited Reproductive cloning PROHIBITED Research cloning PROHIBITED Sex selection ? Surrogacy commercial prohibited International Agreements 1997 COE Biomedicine Convention RATIFIED 1998 COE Cloning Convention RATIFIED 2005 UN Cloning Vote no 2005 UNESCO Sports Doping Convention RATIFIED 2007 Treaty of Lisbon signed

Key laws and policies

• Act on Research on Human Embryonic Stem Cells and Related Activities and on Amendment to Some Related Acts, 227/2006 Coll. Part: 75/2006 Coll. (June 1, 2006)
• Council of Europe Convention on Biomedicine and Human Rights and Additional Protocol on Cloning (1997, 1998)

Prohibited practices

The Act on Research on Human Embryonic Stem Cells prohibits

• the creation of an embryo for purposes other than reproduction
• human-animal hybrids
• implanting a human embryo into an animal uterus
• reproductive cloning

Ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Biomedicine and Human Rights and Additional Protocol on Cloning commits the Czech Republic to prohibit

• Inheritable genetic modification
• Reproductive cloning
• Research cloning
• Sex selection for social purposes
• PGD for social purposes
• Somatic genetic enhancement

Permitted and regulated practices

The Act on Research on Human Embryonic Stem Cells

• limits PGD to "exclude risks of serious genetically conditioned diseases and defects."
• limits sex selection to "prevent serious Mendel-type sex-related genetically conditioned diseases that a) are incompatible with the postnatal development of a child, b) significantly shorten the life, c) cause early disablement or other serious health consequences, or d) are untreatable given our present level of knowledge."
• permits providing eggs for reproductive purposes only without compensation.

There is no law addressing surrogacy.

Regulatory activities

Human embryonic stem cell research requires permission from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport.