The Paradiso and Campanelli versus Italy case will be examined by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on 9 December 2015. This is the first surrogacy case to be heard before the Grand Chamber and the ruling will therefore have a significant impact. Grand Chamber rulings constitute case law and are imposed upon 47 Member States.
Last January, the ECHR condemned Italy which removed the child purchased by a couple through a Russian company specialising in surrogacy. This initial ruling “comments on the production to order and sale of a child. At no point did the Court question the morality of surrogacy, the origin of the child, gamete distribution by the vendor or the surrogate mother (…) on the irreparable damage inflicted on children born through surrogacy”. Furthermore, this hearing “totally quashes the freedom of States not to recognise the legal implications of surrogacy, even if the States makes a legitimate choice in this direction”.
The Italian Government appealed against this decision and requested that the case be reviewed by the ECHR Supreme Court. A panel of five judges agreed in June to review the case as an appeal(cf. Gènéthique du 5 juin 2015). The ECLJ[1]“hopes that the Supreme Court will reverse the initial judgement and recognise the well-founded decisions of the Italian authorities”.
[1] European Centre for Law and Justice.
Zenit (2/12/2015)