The Italian Supreme Court has ruled that the Italian civil registries shall not register foreign acts that recognize the relationship of filiation between a child born through surrogacy and his non-biological parent, in contradiction with what has been recognized by other courts before.
Therefore, homosexual couples who have had a child abroad born with surrogacy cannot obtain in Italy the transcription at the civil registry office of the child’s birth certificate recognized in the foreign country.
According to the Supreme Court, the recognition of the relationship of paternity with the other member of the homosexual couple goes against the prohibition of surrogacy in force in Italy, identifying in this rule a principle of public order.
In fact, according to what has been stated, the recognition of paternity would violate the principle of public order protecting the dignity of the pregnant woman and the legal institution of adoption.
However, according to the Court, the values protected by this prohibition do not exclude the possibility of protecting the parental relationship by recourse to other legal instruments, such as adoption.