Folio 03 of 05Before 1998
Victorian donors from before 1998
Victoria’s Act calls a person who donated gametes before 1 January 1998 a pre-1998 donor, and s 63B sets a time limit of its own for releasing their identifying information. The department’s summary is that a pre-1998 donor has four months to consider a request, and that if the donor cannot be found, the four months run from the date of the application.
General information about Victorian law, not legal or medical advice. The time limit is in s 63B of the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008; the Department of Health describes the process on its Central Register page.
The date
Why 1998 matters
The department explains that how information is released from the Central Register depends on when the treatment or donation happened, because the law in force at the time decided what identifying information had to be written down. A donation made before 1 January 1998 falls into the Act’s pre-1998 category.
Some of those records are old indeed. The register’s information came from clinics and individuals over many decades, and for treatment before 1988 the department says it was added from historic medical records and from updates people supplied themselves.
Section 63B
The four months, and the Act’s time limit
Section 63B(1) applies once the Registrar has given a pre-1998 donor a notice under s 62(2). From then, the Registrar must disclose the donor’s identifying information as soon as reasonably practicable after the earlier of two dates: the day the donor consents, if they do, or four months after the notice was given. The department’s summary describes this as four months for a pre-1998 donor to consider a request. The rest of s 63B is in the Act itself.
- Notice to the donor
- The donor’s consent, if given
- Four months on
The department adds one more point: where a donor cannot be located, it says, the four-month period begins when the application is made.
Comparison
Before and after 1998
| Question | Donor on or after 1 January 1998 | Donor before 1 January 1998 |
|---|---|---|
| When identifying information is released | To donor-conceived people or their descendants, once the donor has been notified | As soon as reasonably practicable after the earlier of the dates in s 63B, one being the donor’s consent ; the department’s summary gives the donor four months to consider |
| If the donor cannot be found | Not covered by the sources this site draws on | The four months start when the application is made |
| Contact preferences | Not covered by the sources this site draws on | The department says the Registrar may ask the person concerned to state them, and that they are legally binding |
Contact preferences
What a donor can say about contact
Disclosure and contact are separate questions. The department says the Registrar must notify the person an application is about, and may ask them to state their contact preferences, which bind the applicant in law. The department also says a preference lasts for five years and the applicant has to agree to keep to it, and that penalties apply for a breach. Under the Act, the Registrar must not release a pre-1998 donor’s identifying information unless the applicant undertakes to comply with any contact preference the donor lodges or amends, whether or not it has been lodged when the undertaking is given.
A notified donor also learns something about the person asking. Every application carries a Statement of Reasons, and the department says the completed form is sent on to the person the information is about. Its December 2024 guide explains the purpose: where someone is asked to consent to a release, the statement can help them make that decision.
Applicants
Who can ask about a pre-1998 donor
The same limits apply as for any donor. Identifying information, which the department says includes details such as a full name, date of birth or unique donor code, can be requested only about people directly connected through donor conception. A donor sibling who shares the same donor cannot be the subject of a request for identifying information.
On 9 October 2026, the department’s page said it expected to begin releasing identifying information from the Central Register in late 2026.
Support
Material and counselling for donors
The department’s December 2024 guide says the reforms added a requirement for the Registrar to give people prescribed explanatory material to consider. The department says that material covers the application process, the consequences of disclosure, and the support services available.
The department’s December 2024 guide says the same reforms removed mandatory counselling for people seeking information from the registers. That is not the whole picture for a child: s 59 of the Act, as it stands in authorised version 031, still lists counselling by a Part 6 counsellor, and a statement from that counsellor on the child’s maturity, among its conditions for a child applicant. Counselling is also offered more widely: the department says it is free and confidential for anyone eligible to use the Central Register or the Voluntary Register, and a donor is among the people who may apply to the Central Register. For a child asking about a donor from before 1998, s 63H goes further: the Registrar must not release the donor’s identifying information unless a Part 6 counsellor has counselled the child and has given the Registrar a statement that the child is mature enough to understand the consequences of giving the undertaking s 63G(1) requires.
Voluntary Register
The Voluntary Register
For a donor who would rather open the door themselves, the Voluntary Register is a pathway built on consent for people who are willing to find and connect with each other. A donor who has already applied to join it stays on it, though for any new match the department will ask for updated details and current consent. Victoria’s two registers compares the two.