PART 2 continued
(5) At the time of the making of the order both the applicants must have attained the age of 18.
(6) The court must be satisfied that both—
(a) the woman who carried the child, and
(b) any other person who is a parent of the child but is not one of the applicants (including any man who is the father by virtue of section 35 or 36 or any woman who is a parent by virtue of section 42 or 43),
have freely, and with full understanding of what is involved, agreed unconditionally to the making of the order.
(7) Subsection (6) does not require the agreement of a person who cannot be found or is incapable of giving agreement; and the agreement of the woman who carried the child is ineffective for the purpose of that subsection if given by her less than six weeks after the child’s birth.
(8) The court must be satisfied that no money or other benefit (other than for expenses reasonably incurred) has been given or received by either of the applicants for or in consideration of—
(a) the making of the order,
(b) any agreement required by subsection (6),
(c) the handing over of the child to the applicants, or
(d) the making of arrangements with a view to the making of the order,
unless authorised by the court.
(9) For the purposes of an application under this section—
(a) in relation to England and Wales, section 92(7) to (10) of, and Part 1 of Schedule 11 to, the Children Act 1989 (c. 41) (jurisdiction of courts) apply for the purposes of this section to determine the meaning of “the court” as they apply for the purposes of that Act and proceedings on the application are to be “family proceedings” for the purposes of that Act,
(b) in relation to Scotland, “the court” means the Court of Session or the sheriff court of the sheriffdom within which the child is, and
(c) in relation to Northern Ireland, “the court” means the High Court or any county court within whose division the child is.
(10) Subsection (1)(a) applies whether the woman was in the United Kingdom or elsewhere at the time of the placing in her of the embryo or the sperm and eggs or her artificial insemination.
(11) An application which—
(a) relates to a child born before the coming into force of this section, and
(b) is made by two persons who, throughout the period applicable under subsection (2) of section 30 of the 1990 Act, were not eligible to apply for an order under that section in relation to the child as husband and wife,
may be made within the period of six months beginning with the day on which this section comes into force.
(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations provide—
(a) for any provision of the enactments about adoption to have effect, with such modifications (if any) as may be specified in the regulations, in relation to orders under section 54, and applications for such orders, as it has effect in relation to adoption, and applications for adoption orders, and
(b) for references in any enactment to adoption, an adopted child or an adoptive relationship to be read (respectively) as references to the effect of an order under section 54, a child to whom such an order applies and a relationship arising by virtue of the enactments about adoption, as applied by the regulations, and for similar expressions in connection with adoption to be read accordingly.
(2) The regulations may include such incidental or supplemental provision as appears to the Secretary of State to be necessary or desirable in consequence of any provision made by virtue of subsection (1)(a) or (b).
(3) In this section “the enactments about adoption” means—
(a) the Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978 (c. 28),
(b) the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (c. 38),
(c) the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 (asp 4), and
(d) the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 (S.I. 1987/2203 (N.I. 22)).
Schedule 6 contains amendments related to the provisions of this Part.
(1) Sections 33 to 48 have effect only in relation to children carried by women as a result of the placing in them of embryos or of sperm and eggs, or their artificial insemination (as the case may be), after the commencement of those sections.
(2) Sections 27 to 29 of the 1990 Act (which relate to status) do not have effect in relation to children carried by women as a result of the placing in them of embryos or of sperm and eggs, or their artificial insemination (as the case may be), after the commencement of sections 33 to 48.
(3) Section 30 of the 1990 Act (parental orders in favour of gamete donors) ceases to have effect.
(4) Subsection (3) does not affect the validity of any order made under section 30 of the 1990 Act before the coming into force of that subsection.
(1) In this Part “enactment” means an enactment contained in, or in an instrument made under—
(a) an Act of Parliament,
(b) an Act of the Scottish Parliament,
(c) a Measure or Act of the National Assembly for Wales, or
(d) Northern Ireland legislation.
(2) For the purposes of this Part, two persons are within prohibited degrees of relationship if one is the other’s parent, grandparent, sister, brother, aunt or uncle; and in this subsection references to relationships—
(a) are to relationships of the full blood or half blood or, in the case of an adopted person, such of those relationships as would subsist but for adoption, and
(b) include the relationship of a child with his adoptive, or former adoptive, parents,
but do not include any other adoptive relationships.
(3) Other expressions used in this Part and in the 1990 Act have the same meaning in this Part as in that Act.