This reserves the subject-matter of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 which deals principally with:
the regulation of the creation, keeping or using of human embryos or gametes outside the body;
the regulation or prohibition of any activities involving the creation, keeping or using of human embryos or gametes outside the body, including research and the provision of infertility treatment services; and
the definition of the parents of any child being or having been carried by a woman as the result of the placing in her of an embryo or of eggs and sperm or her artificial insemination.
The Act also established the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority which regulates research or treatment which involves the creation, keeping and using of human embryos outside the body, or the storage or donation of human eggs and sperm.
The 1990 Act also makes provision regarding the parentage of children born as a result of surrogacy arrangements and confers a power on the Courts to make an Order providing for a child born as a result of a surrogacy arrangement to be treated in law as the child of the couple who commissioned the surrogate mother to carry the child. Whilst parentage is usually a matter for Scots private law, the Scottish Parliament is not able to make provision amending section 30 in relation to surrogacy arrangements or the other matters covered by the 1990 Act.