Особливості виникнення права власності на ембріони людини in vitro

The article investigates the issue of attributing human embryos created outside the human body (in vitro) to the objects of property rights. The author analyzes two opposite positions that have developed in judicial practice and in the doctrine of civil law, concerning the possibility of attributing embryos in vitro to the property of subjects of civil relations. Since the author adheres to the approach according to which embryos in vitro are objects of civil rights and can be owned by a clearly defined law of a limited circle of persons, the article analyzes the grounds for the emergence of ownership of such a specific object. The author applies the analogy of the law, since none of the existing legal regimes of objects of civil rights can be applied to artificially created human embryos. In particular, the article discusses the acquisition of ownership of embryos in vitro through specification, since they are created in a healthcare facility in vitro from reproductive material provided by patients or from donor gametes, resulting in a new object. Depending on the owner of the reproductive cells from which the embryo is created, the subjects of ownership of them are determined. The author is also investigating the possibility of acquiring by a healthcare institution of ownership of abandoned embryos in vitro in the order of acquisitive prescription, if at the end of the term of the cryopreservation agreement, the patients did not claim their rights to their cryoembryos, and the healthcare institution did not take measures to dispose of them. Particular attention is paid to the donation of embryos as the basis for the emergence of ownership of them, as well as the establishment of the owner of donor embryos, depending on the type of donation (open or anonymous). The article analyzes the possibility of the emergence of ownership of embryos in vitro in the order of inheritance, in particular, the author considers a doctrinal and judicial approach to solving this problem, based on which a reasonable conclusion is made that the presence of a genetic link between the testator and his embryos in vitro affects the determination of further the fate of these embryos.