How will the legislation be brought into force?
On March 29, 2004, the Assisted Human Reproduction Act (“AHR Act”) received Royal Assent. At that time, only section 78 of the Act came into force. Section 78 states that the remaining provisions of the Act will come into force on a day, or days, to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council. The coming into force of the remaining provisions of the AHR Act will follow a staged approach.All of the prohibitions (sections 5 through 9) came into force on April 22, 2004. The one exception is section 8 – which pertains to the prohibition on the use of reproductive material without consent – as its enforcement is dependent upon regulations that will soon be developed.The “controlled activities” sections (sections 10-13) and section 71 (the “grandfathering” provision) also came into force on April 22. The one exception is section 12 which deals with the reimbursement of receipted expenditures. (Further details on section 12 can be found in the response to Question 3).
