Act C of 2012 on the Criminal Code (as in force on 1 April 2022)
This document has been produced for informational purposes only.
Failure to meet an obligation to provide care
Section 167 A person who fails to meet his obligation to provide care to a person who is
unable to care for himself due to his condition or old age and by doing so endangers the life,
physical integrity or health of the person in need of care is guilty of a felony and shall be
punished by imprisonment for up to three years.
CHAPTER XVI
CRIMINAL OFFENCES AGAINST THE RULES OF MEDICAL INTERVENTION AND
RESEARCH
Intervention to modify the human genome
Section 168 (1) A person who carries out an intervention on the genome of a human being,
a foetus or a human embryo seeking to modify it is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by
imprisonment for one to five years.
(2) The punishment shall be imprisonment for two to eight years if the intervention under
paragraph (1) results in the modification of the genome.
Illegal use of human gamete
Section 169 (1) A person who uses a gamete from a deceased person or foetus in a special
procedure for human reproduction is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment
for one to five years.
(2) A person who commits preparation for the illegal use of human gamete is guilty of a
misdemeanour and shall be punished by imprisonment for up to two years.
Choosing the sex of an unborn child
Section 170 A person who carries out an intervention seeking to choose the sex of an
unborn child is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment for one to five years.
Violation of the rules of research on humans
Section 171 A person who carries out medical research on a human without authorisation or
in deviation from it is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment for one to five
years.
Violation of the rules of research on embryos and gametes
Section 172 (1) A person who carries out medical research on a human gamete or human
embryo without authorisation or in deviation from it, or creates a human embryo for research
purposes, is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment for one to five years.
(2) A person who
a) transplants a human embryo into an animal,
b) uses a human and an animal gamete for cross-fertilisation,
c) implants a human embryo that was subject to research into a human,
d) uses a human gamete that was used for research for human reproduction,
e) uses a non-human gamete or embryo for human fertilisation or embryo implantation,
f) uses a human embryo for the production of multiple human or animal embryos,
shall be punished by imprisonment for two to eight years.
(3) A person who commits preparation for a criminal offence specified in paragraph (2) is
guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be punished by imprisonment for up to two years.
(4) For the purposes of this section, human gamete also means gamete from an embryo.
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