Dubrovina A.N. Human Reproductive Biological Material as an Object of Civil and Business Rights and Hereditary Relationships
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/lc.jvolsu.2025.1.7
Anastasia N. Dubrovina, Master’s Student, Department of Civil and International Private Law, Volgograd State University, Prosp. Universitetsky, 100, 400062 Volgograd, Russian Federation, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6729-8118
Introduction: the problems related to human reproductive biological material and its turnover, on the one hand, are intensively discussed in the scientific community; at the same time, the issues of the legal regulation remain insufficiently investigated. In contrast to the Russian legal system, a number of foreign jurisdictions have developed extensive judicial practice, and there are many legislative acts regulating the status and treatment of reproductive biological material. This creates a clear contrast with the situation in Russia, where there is a significant shortage of legal norms capable of effectively regulating the legal nature of human reproductive biological material. The key problem in this area is the regulation of the position of human reproductive biological material in the system of objects of civil rights. A separate issue worth paying attention to is the fate of human reproductive biological material preserved by an individual entrepreneur, who then passed away. In particular, do his legitimate heirs have the right to use it, including for business purposes? The purpose of the study is to substantiate the legal nature of human reproductive biological material from the perspective of modern civil legislation, as well as to develop recommendations for the legalization of human reproductive biological material and simplification of the procedure for its inheritance. Research objectives: to characterize the legal nature of human reproductive biological material; to evaluate the inheritance fund of individual entrepreneurs as a legal mechanism for the preservation and use of human reproductive biological material; to propose recommendations for the creation of a Unified Notarial Registry of human reproductive biological material. Research methods: 1) the general scientific methods: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, the ascent from the abstract to the concrete, abstraction, analogy, and comparison; 2) the specific scientific methods: systemic, structural-functional, formal-legal, comparative law, institutional, and interpretative. Results: 1) the expediency of correcting the text of Article 128 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation is argued; 2) the necessity of abolishing Paragraph 3 of Article 3 of Federal Law No. 180-FZ of June 23, 2016, “On Biomedical Cellular Products,” containing the norm on the “inadmissibility of the purchase and sale of biological material,” is justified; 3) the creation of a Unified Notarial Registry of reproductive human biological material. Conclusions: it is necessary to supplement Article 128 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation with the following provision after the words “the objects of civil rights include...” the text “human reproductive biological material.” Such a legislative decision will make it possible to consolidate the legal nature of such objects as male and female germ cells, tissues of reproductive organs, and human embryos that have been isolated from the body and are intended for use for reproductive purposes. It is proposed to delete paragraph 3 of Article 3 of Federal Law No. 180-FZ of June 23, 2016, “On Biomedical Cellular Products,” which contains the principle of “the inadmissibility of purchase and sale of biological material.” A gap in the legal regulation regarding the inheritance of assets of an individual entrepreneur, whose business is associated with the allocation and sale of his own reproductive biological material, is identified. The legislative recognition of human reproductive biological material as an object of civil rights in Article 128 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation will create legal opportunities for testators, allowing them to bequeath this material, include it in the assets of the inheritance fund, and dispose of it in various ways. The necessity of establishing a unified notarial registry of human reproductive biological material, which will be under the control of the Federal Notary Chamber, is argued.
Key words: objects of civil rights, entrepreneurial activity, registry of human reproductive biological material, inheritance fund, notary office.
Citation. Dubrovina A.N. Human Reproductive Biological Material as an Object of Civil and Business Rights and Hereditary Relationships. Legal Concept = Pravovaya paradigma, 2025, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 45-54. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/lc.jvolsu.2025.1.7
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