Dalleau v. France (communicated case)

Information Note on the Court’s case-law 230
June 2019
Dalleau v. France (communicated case) - 57307/18
 
Article 8
Article 8-1
Respect for family life
Respect for private life
Refusal by the authorities to authorise transfer abroad of gametes from the applicant’s partner for post mortem insemination: communicated
In December 2016 M.C., the applicant’s partner, who was suffering from cancer, deposited a sperm specimen at the Centre for the study and conservation of eggs and sperm (CECOS). In February 2017 the couple contracted a civil partnership. They subsequently launched the procedure for medically assisted reproduction, but this was interrupted owing to M.C.’s worsening state of health. On 19 September 2017 M.C. wrote to the CECOS asking them to transfer his specimen to a hospital for artificial insemination, but on 29 September 2017 he died.
In December 2017 the applicant requested that the CECOS transfer the specimen to a medical centre in Spain for post mortem insemination. Under the Spanish Law No. 14/2006 on assisted human reproduction techniques any man can indicate, in a will, a formal deed or advance directives, his wish for his sperm to be used after his death to initiate a pregnancy in his wife (or partner). The parent-child relationship is recognised if the medical assistance for reproduction is provided within twelve months of the death.
In the absence of a reply from the CECOS, the applicant lodged urgent applications and appeals on the merits, which were dismissed on the grounds, in particular, that the prohibition of the exportation of gametes deposited in France, where they were to be used abroad for purposes which were prohibited in France, was designed to prevent any circumvention of French law. The judges also took the following two facts into consideration:
–  firstly, whereas M.C. had been informed that the storage of spermatozoa was strictly personal and that in the event of death that storage would be terminated, he at no point expressed his wish for the sperm sample to be used for possible post mortem artificial insemination, and
–  secondly, the applicant – who is a French national, lives in in France and has no particular link with Spain (where the medical centre, which she contacted with a view to medically assisted reproduction after the death of M.C., is located) – has not demonstrated the existence of any specific fact which amounted to a disproportionate interference with her Convention rights.
Communicated under Article 8 of the Convention.
 
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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