The Directorate General of Foreign Trade on 20th July 2022, prohibited the Import of Human Embryo under ITC (HS) 05119999 in accordance with the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021 (ART) and The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021.
Earlier the import was restricted/ prohibited except for research purposes based on the guidelines of the Department of Health Research.
The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021, defines ART to include all techniques which tries to obtain pregnancy by handling sperm outside the human body and then transferring the embryo into reproductive system of a woman. Some of the ART services are- in-vitro-fertilization, gamete donation, and gestational surrogacy.
