The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is to hear its first ever case on surrogacy following an appeal by the Italian government.

The case, which will have far-reaching consequences for member states of the Council of Europe, centres on an Italian couple who procured a child via a surrogate mother for a payment of €49,000 to a Russian company specialising in surrogacy and in vitro fertilisation. The resultant child did not have any biological link to either parent and, upon removing the child from Russia to Italy, authorities in the latter country move to launch a criminal investigation and removed the child.

Italy prohibits surrogacy altogether in the best interests of the child. The Italian Government removed the child from the couple.

Citing a right to privacy and family life, the couple subsequently took a case to the ECHR, and at the end of January were backed in a judgement by five judges to two. They ruled that while Italy has the right to refuse recognition of a filial link between couple and child, its actions in removing the child were unacceptable, even though the same court recognised that the purchase of the child and his transfer between countries were in violation of international norms.