What documentation and consent processes are required to remain compliant under Indian ART and Surrogacy regulations?

[Described from primary statute — current as of August 2026. Not compliance advice; see the note at the end.] **Only altruistic gestational surrogacy is permitted.** Commercial surrogacy is prohibited. No charges, expenses, fees, remuneration or monetary incentive may be given to the surrogate mother other than medical expenses, prescribed expenses, and insurance coverage. The surrogate may not provide her own gametes — the child must not be genetically related to her. **Intending couple eligibility:** legally married Indian man and woman; female aged **23–50** and male **26–55** on the day of certification; and **no surviving child** — biological, adopted, or through earlier surrogacy. One exception to the no-surviving-child condition: it does not apply where an existing child is mentally or physically challenged, or has a life-threatening disorder or fatal illness with no permanent cure, approved by the appropriate authority with a District Medical Board certificate. **Surrogate mother eligibility:** an ever-married woman having a child of her own, aged **25–35** on the day of implantation, willing and giving written informed consent, and acting as a surrogate **once in a lifetime**. A certificate of medical and psychological fitness is required. **Certificates required:** Certificate of medical indication — District Medical Board of the State where the couple resides. Certificate of essentiality — State/UT Appropriate Authority having jurisdiction over that Board. Eligibility certificates — issued separately for the intending couple and for the surrogate. Per instruction dated 14.11.2024, these certificates are valid for **one year** from issuance. Note that this validity period comes from an instruction, not from the Act. **Insurance:** coverage for the surrogate mother for **36 months**, covering postpartum delivery complications, from an IRDA-recognised insurer. **Embryo transfer limit:** only **one embryo** may be transferred in a treatment cycle; up to three in special circumstances (Surrogacy Rules 2022, Rule 8). **Parentage:** an order concerning parentage and custody must be passed by a court of the Magistrate of the first class or above, on application by the intending couple and the surrogate mother. This order becomes the birth affidavit. Arrange it in advance. **Clinic obligations.** Surrogacy clinics must be registered — fee Rs 2,00,000 per the GNCTD schedule. Records, charts, forms, reports, consent letters, agreements and all documents must be retained for a **minimum of 25 years**. The Appropriate Authority may search and seize records where it has reason to believe an offence has been or is being committed. **Appeals** may be filed within **thirty days** of an order — to the State Government against a State Appropriate Authority, or the Central Government against a UT authority. **Cryopreserved embryos on clinic closure:** departmental instruction dated 23.12.2024 addresses transfer between clinics. Confirm the current procedure with your Appropriate Authority. --- **This is a description of the statute, not compliance advice.** Several operative details above — certificate validity, re-registration on address change, embryo transfer between clinics — derive from departmental instructions rather than the Act, and further instructions may have issued since. Verify with your State/UT Appropriate Authority and a healthcare lawyer.