Your rights as a patient under the ART Act, 2021

The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021 is mostly written as a list of duties on clinics and banks. Read from the other side, those duties are a list of what a patient is entitled to expect: to be treated only at a registered clinic, to be told the risks and the cost before agreeing to anything, to give or withhold consent in writing, to have information kept confidential, to receive a record of what was done, and to complain if something goes wrong.

This guide sets out those entitlements section by section, quoting the Act in its own words, and explains how to use them. It is written for patients and for the doctors who refer them, and it is not legal advice. It publishes no success rates and no prices, because this directory holds neither for any clinic. Everything it refers to can be looked up from the directory home.

Treatment only at a registered clinic

The first protection is that unregistered clinics may not offer assisted reproduction at all. Section 15(1) says “No person shall establish any clinic or bank for undertaking assisted reproductive technology or to render assisted reproductive technology procedures in any form unless such clinic or bank is duly registered under this Act.” Registration is meant to be visible. Section 16(7) says the certificate “shall be displayed by the clinic or bank at a conspicuous place and such certificate shall contain the duration of validity of such registration.”

You are entitled to see that certificate and to check its dates. Each clinic page in this directory shows the registration number recorded in the National ART & Surrogacy Registry extract, and the level where the extract records one; the guide to the registry and clinic levels explains how to read an entry, and the clinics index lists clinics by state and city.

Counselling and full information before you decide

Section 21(c) sets out what a clinic owes you before treatment. It must “provide professional counselling to commissioning couple and woman about all the implications and chances of success of assisted reproductive technology procedures in the clinic”. It must “inform the commissioning couple and woman of the advantages, disadvantages and cost of the procedures, their medical side effects, risks including the risk of multiple pregnancy”. And it must “help the commissioning couple or woman to arrive at an informed decision on such matters that would most likely be the best for the commissioning couple”.

In practice, you are entitled to ask what a procedure is for, what it involves, what can go wrong, and what it will cost, and to expect clear answers before you agree. If a clinic gives you a figure for its results, you are entitled to ask how it was counted. The guide to a first IVF consultation covers how to raise these questions at the start.

Consent, in writing, and the right to withdraw it

Nothing may be done without your written agreement. Section 22(1) says “The clinic shall not perform any treatment or procedure without” the written informed consent “of all the parties seeking assisted reproductive technology”. The Act treats “parties” broadly; its explanation says the word “includes the commissioning couple or woman and the donor.”

Consent is not a one-way door. Section 22(4) says “Any of the commissioning couple may withdraw his or her consent under sub-section (1), any time before the human embryos or the gametes are transferred to the concerned woman's uterus.” Two further consents protect what is stored or created. Section 22(2) requires specific written instructions before embryos or gametes are frozen, covering what happens “in case of death or incapacity of any of the parties.” Section 22(3) says the clinic shall not create a human embryo or use one “for any purpose without the specific consent in writing of all the concerned persons to whom the assisted reproductive technology relates.” The guide to egg freezing and fertility preservation explains the storage consents in detail.

Confidentiality

Your treatment is confidential by law. Section 21(e) says “the clinics and banks shall ensure that information about the commissioning couple, woman and donor shall be kept confidential and the information about treatment shall not be disclosed to anyone except to the database to be maintained by the National Registry, in a medical emergency at the request of the commissioning couple to whom the information relates, or by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction”.

Note the first exception. Clinics are required to report treatment information to the National Registry, which the Act describes as a central database for details of all clinics and banks, including the “outcome of the services”. That reporting is lawful and expected. Disclosure to anyone else outside the listed exceptions, such as an employer or a relative, is not permitted.

A record of what was done

At the end of treatment, you are entitled to a written record. Section 21(h) says “the clinics shall issue to the commissioning couple or woman a discharge certificate stating details of the assisted reproductive technology procedure performed on the commissioning couple or woman”. Keep it, together with your test results and consent forms. It is the document another clinic or doctor will need if you seek treatment elsewhere.

The clinic must also keep records. Section 23(c) says they “shall be maintained for at least a period of ten years, upon the expiry of which the clinic and bank shall transfer the records to a central database of the National Registry”, and if a clinic closes earlier, section 23(d) requires it to transfer its records to that database immediately.

Limits that protect you during treatment

Several rules in the Act limit what a clinic may do, whatever it is asked for. Section 24(b) says “not more than three oocytes or embryos may be placed in the uterus of a woman during the treatment cycle”. That is an upper limit, not a target; ask how the clinic decides the number in your case. Section 25(1) says “The Pre-implantation Genetic testing shall be used to screen the human embryo for known, pre-existing, heritable or genetic diseases only.” The embryo testing page explains what that covers.

Sex selection is prohibited. Section 26(1) says the clinic “shall not offer to provide a couple or woman with a child of a pre-determined sex.” And section 33(1)(d) says no medical practitioner or any other person shall “exploit the commissioning couple, woman or the gamete donor in any form”.

Who the Act covers

The Act's services are available to married couples and to women on their own. A commissioning couple is “an infertile married couple who approach an assisted reproductive technology clinic or assisted reproductive technology bank for obtaining the services authorised of the said clinic or bank”. Section 21(g) sets age limits: clinics apply assisted reproduction “to a woman above the age of twenty-one years and below the age of fifty years” and “to a man above the age of twenty-one years and below the age of fifty-five years”. If donor eggs or sperm are involved, the Act has a separate set of rules, covered in the guide to donor treatment. Surrogacy falls under a different law, explained in the guide to the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act.

The rights of the child

A child born through assisted reproduction has the same legal standing as any other child. Section 31(1) says the child “shall be deemed to be a biological child of the commissioning couple and the said child shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges available to a natural child only from the commissioning couple under any law for the time being in force.” Under section 21(d), the clinic must make you aware of those rights.

Complaining when something goes wrong

The Act gives a route for complaints, starting with the clinic itself. Section 21(f) says “every clinic and every bank shall maintain a grievance cell in respect of matters relating to such clinics and banks”. Ask the clinic how its grievance cell works and whom to write to. Put any complaint in writing and keep a copy.

If the clinic does not resolve it, the next step is the appropriate authority for your state or Union territory. Its functions under section 13 include “to investigate complaints of breach of the provisions of this Act, rules and regulations made thereunder and take legal action as per provisions of this Act”. On a complaint, section 18(1) allows it to issue a notice to the clinic to show cause why its registration should not be suspended or cancelled.

Criminal prosecution follows a different path. Section 35(1) says “No court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under this Act, save on a complaint made by the National Board or the State Board or by an officer authorised by it.” A patient who believes an offence has been committed therefore takes it to the State Board or the appropriate authority; it is the Boards, or an officer one of them authorises, that can bring it to court.

What the Act does not promise

The Act requires clinics to counsel you about the chances of treatment working, but it does not require clinics to publish their results, and the registry does not publish clinic-level results either. This directory publishes no success rates for any clinic, and the how we rank page explains what it does sort by. The Act also requires a clinic to tell you the cost of a procedure, but it does not set prices. Ask for an itemised quote in writing. If you find something wrong in this directory, the corrections form reaches the people who maintain it.

A short list of your entitlements

• Treatment only at a registered clinic, with its certificate and validity on display.
• Counselling, and information about risks, side effects and cost, before you agree.
• Written informed consent before any procedure, and the right to withdraw it before transfer.
• Written instructions of your own before anything is frozen.
• Confidentiality, subject only to the exceptions the Act lists.
• A discharge certificate describing what was done.
• A grievance cell at the clinic, and the appropriate authority beyond it.

For doctors referring a patient

Patients often do not know that the Act entitles them to a discharge certificate, to see the clinic's registration and to written consent before each procedure. A referral is a good moment to tell them. Refer to a clinic registered at the right level for the work, using the registration shown on each clinic page and, where the level is missing, the clinic's certificate. Cities such as Mumbai and Hyderabad have pages of their own, the fertility doctors index lists named doctors, and the treatments index, including the IVF page, explains each procedure. The guide to choosing an IVF clinic covers the wider checks.

Where this guide comes from

Every statement about the law is quoted from the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021. Many of the Act's details, including the form of a grievance procedure and the format of records, are left to rules made under it, and those rules can change, so check the current position with the clinic or the appropriate authority. Facts about clinics come from the National ART & Surrogacy Registry extract this directory holds and from each clinic's own website. Nothing in this guide is legal or clinical advice, and nothing in it is sponsored.