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Key messages
- The Victorian Government is proposing reforms to health regulation in Victoria to better protect Victorians and provide greater consistency to regulation across the health system. The proposals include reforms to the regulation of assisted reproductive treatment (ART) under the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act .
- In summary, the proposals include transferring responsibility for ART regulation from the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA) to the department, changes to the functions currently undertaken by VARTA, and improvements to the compliance and enforcement tools available to regulate ART.
Proposed reforms
In December 2023, the Minister for Health announced the establishment of the Health Regulator – a new branch of the department that will have responsibility for most of the department's existing regulatory functions. The Minister also announced that proposed reforms to ART regulation in Victoria were being developed, including transferring responsibility for the regulation of registered ART providers from VARTA to the Health Regulator.
This will require changes to the ART Act and how functions currently performed by VARTA are managed. The proposed reforms also include:
- Transferring responsibility for maintaining and managing the Central Register and Voluntary Register (the registers) to a new Donor Conception Registrar within the department.
- Replacing the requirement for the regulator’s preapproval to bring donor gametes or embryos formed from them into, or out of, Victoria with a certification requirement.
- Removing the requirements that counselling be offered or undertaken before disclosure of information from the registers or lodgement of a contact preference. This is proposed to be replaced with a requirement that the Donor Conception Registrar provide prescribed information to the person which will cover matters currently required to be covered during mandated counselling.
- Removing the functions relating to education, consultation, and research promotion from the ART Act.
- Improving regulatory tools in line with reforms being proposed to other health regulatory schemes.
Consultation details
On 29 April 2024, the department released a consultation paper to seek stakeholder views, build an understanding of the reforms, and support their implementation.
Consultation closed on 31 May 2024. Thank you to everyone who participated in the consultation process. Feedback on the consultation paper will be used by the department to design the proposed reforms and plan for their implementation.
For more information, including the consultation paper and what’s next, see Reforms to Health Regulation in Victoria.
For more information or to sign up for news and updates on the proposed reforms, please email the department's Legislative and Regulatory Reform Team at legandregreform@health.vic.gov.au.
Reviewed 03 June 2024