Legal Issues of Assisted Reproduction- the Albanian Perspective

Assisted reproduction was provided in Albania as an alternative way of reproduction by the "Reproductive Health" law of 2002. This law is an attempt to give the possibility of access in new technologies of reproduction as surrogacy, heterologues and homologues artificial reproduction to infertile persons, but since the enter into force of this law no further provisions has been made to regulate the procedures and the consequences coming from its applicability. The issue of assisted reproduction is still a subject of debate and of legislative changes as it is still not completely regulated by law. in this important issue, constitutional rights of different individuals, different interests and family law principles are involved. Ethical, scientific and legal factors are those which should be taken into consideration by the legislator in the attempt to make further legislative provisions. This paper analyses the few provisions on the assisted reproduction in the Albanian legislation. As a concept which implicates many institutions in different fields, the paper aims to give the Albanian perspective on different legal issues related to the topic. The reproductive right as human right and the state liability to ensure it through the health care system should be analyzed according to the Albanian Constitution and the European Court of Human Rights. The consequences of the ART on the family law is another legal issue with which the Albanian legislator has to deal with as the implementation of the techniques on assisted reproduction was not accompanied by the necessary changes in the provisions of family law. The legislations of different European countries which have the best experiences on the field will be put face to face and compared in order to give the best practices.