EUROPE
April 17, 2015
The Court of Justice of the European Union issued a resolution providing some clarification regarding the meaning of human embryo used in the Biotech Directive. It concludes that an organism which is incapable of developing into a human being does not constitute a human embryo within the meaning of the Biotech Directive. Formerly, the European Court of Justice (C 34/10) sustained that the concept of "human embryo" includes unfertilized human ova whose division and further development have been stimulated by parthenogenesis, based on the fact that such ova are capable of commencing the process of development into a human being.
In the ECJ´s resolution it is held that in order to be considered a human embryo, an unfertilized human ovum must have the inherent capacity of developing into a human being. Consequently, the mere fact that a parthenogenetically activated human ovum can commence a process of development is insufficient for it to be regarded as a human embryo.