A new law on filiation is set to make surrogacy, which is currently not regulated in the Grand Duchy, illegal.

Introduced by then Justice Minister François Biltgen in 2013, a bill on the reform of filiation – recognising the legal status of relationships between family members – is currently being reviewed by the government and parliament.

While the Biltgen proposal already declared surrogacy illegal, it left a number of questions open.

Speaking to Luxembourg daily “Journal”, Viviane Loschetter of “déi Gréng” said that a legal framework needs to be provided to children born by surrogate mothers outside of the country.

Loschetter chairs a parliamentary commission reviewing the bill. The MP said that it was important that children's rights were also taken into consideration.

In France, a decision to refuse the legal recognition of children born by a surrogate mother as the child of its biological parents saw the country criticised by the European Court of Justice.

On the other hand, the ECJ ruled in 2014 that surrogate mothers, in member states where it is allowed, are not entitled to maternity or adoption leave.

Justice Minister Félix Braz meanwhile told the paper that parents getting a child via a surrogate mother should not be let off the hook easily.

“They [the children] should not suffer any disadvantages, because children are children and need to be 100 percent equal, regardless of the circumstances under which they were conceived,” Braz said. “On the other hand we need to watch out not to make it too easy for parents to do something that is forbidden here.”

The filiation reform also touches on other issues, such as anonymous birth, paternity tests and artificial insemination.