How a transport is controlled - and what we do not claim

Reproductive material is regulated differently in every jurisdiction we might be asked to work in, and the position can change. We treat each route as a separate question rather than assuming that what applied last time still applies.

Where a licence, authorisation or permission is required, it is held by the clinic or laboratory, not by us. Part of assessment is confirming that each end holds what its own activity requires and can evidence it.

A custody chain is only as good as its weakest handover. Ours is built so that responsibility passes only between identified individuals, and every transfer is recorded when it happens rather than reconstructed afterwards.

The completed record is issued to both clinics and to the enquirer once the case closes.

Most cross-border transfers that fail do so on paperwork. We produce the documentation list for the route, identify who is responsible for each item, and check the completed set for internal consistency before collection.

We prepare and check documentation. We do not certify it, and we do not sign on behalf of a clinic or a patient.

Collection and delivery are formal handovers, not deliveries. At each one, the shipment is checked against the documentation before responsibility passes, and both parties sign.

Handovers take place with laboratory staff at a time the laboratory has confirmed it can staff.

Both clinics are told before collection who the courier is and how they can be identified, so the person who arrives is the person expected.

Couriers are assigned to a case rather than to a delivery round, and they are briefed on that case before travelling.

We supply our own prepared shippers to carry out the transport. Each is prepared for the planned journey duration, with allowance for the route rather than for a best-case transit, and its configuration is agreed with the sending laboratory before collection.

Material stays in the carriers the laboratory supplied. Nothing is repacked outside a laboratory environment.

Equipment is selected and prepared so that it is designed to maintain the required transport conditions across the planned journey. Route planning supports that through fewer transfers, realistic connection times and allowance beyond the expected duration.

Our shippers are equipped with temperature monitoring capability. A monitoring record can be produced on request, after the transport has completed. That is a record of the shipper, not a live feed: there is no customer-facing tracking view and no alerting during transit.

Shipments are sealed before leaving the sending laboratory, and the condition of those seals is checked and recorded at each transfer of responsibility.

The receiving laboratory checks the seals before the shipper is opened. If a seal is found to be disturbed, it is recorded and both clinics are informed before anything further is done.

Both clinics and the enquirer are informed at collection, at any material change to the plan, and before arrival. Communication goes to the parties directly rather than through the patient.

After receipt, the completed record is issued to everyone involved.

There is no standard international route. What one destination requires, another does not, and some destinations do not permit the movement at all.

Where a route cannot be supported to the standard described on this page, we decline it and explain the reason rather than proceeding on a best-effort basis.