ART Act 2021 — What IVF Clinics Can and Cannot Advertise | ICG

Author: Rohit Gupta · Co-Founder, ICG · July 2026

The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act 2021 is the statutory framework governing all ART clinics, sperm banks, and egg banks in India. Section 26 creates specific advertising prohibitions that are distinct from — and in some cases stricter than — NMC Section 6.

ICG manages IVF marketing for 57 fertility clinic clients. Zero ART Act advertising violations across the portfolio. This guide is the operational compliance framework we apply.

Section 26 — the advertising prohibition in full

Section 26 of the ART Act 2021 prohibits any ART clinic or bank from advertising, publishing, propagating, promoting, or communicating by any means — including electronic media — any service that:

(a) Implies guaranteed success or specific success rates This is absolute and applies to all formats: Google Ads, website copy, Instagram posts, YouTube videos, printed brochures, and verbal communication to prospective patients by patient coordinators.

(b) Promotes commercial surrogacy The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021 bans commercial surrogacy entirely. Any ART marketing content that mentions, implies, or promotes commercial surrogacy services violates both Acts simultaneously.

(c) Identifies donors or surrogates Donor anonymity is mandated. No marketing content may name, describe, or display images of donors in a way that enables identification.

(d) Encourages abandonment of donor-conceived children No marketing content should suggest or normalise the abandonment of children born from donor gametes or embryos.

What IVF clinics can say (and how)

The ART Act prohibition is on success rate advertising — not on clinical service marketing. The following are fully compliant:

Service description: "Specialist IVF consultations, embryology services, and fertility evaluation at [Clinic Name] in [City]."

Clinical team credentials: "Our embryology team has [X] years of combined experience. Lead embryologist: [Name], fellowship at [Institution]." (Factual, no outcome claim)

Procedure education: "IVF involves ovarian stimulation, egg retrieval, fertilisation, and embryo transfer. The process typically takes 4-6 weeks from first consultation to embryo transfer." (Educational, NMC carve-out, no success claim)

Published research citation: "Published research in [Journal] shows that [population-level outcome range] for IVF in patients with [specific clinical characteristics] — individual outcomes depend on age, ovarian reserve, and protocol." (Research-attributed, population-level, individual variability acknowledged)

Patient journey testimonials: Patient narrates their fertility journey in their own words, face visible, with documented DPDP consent, in journey format (what they experienced, not what outcome they were promised).

The compliance table: what can be said

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FAQ

Q1: Can I display our clinic's live birth rate data anywhere? The ART Registry collects outcome data from all registered clinics — this data may eventually be published in aggregate on the ART Registry platform. Clinics may be able to reference the Registry's published data for their clinic once it is made publicly available by the Registry. Publishing self-reported, unaudited live birth data on the clinic website remains within Section 26's prohibition on specific success rate advertising.

Q2: How should patient coordinators answer "what is your success rate?" on the phone? Train patient coordinators to respond: "The ART Act 2021 prohibits us from advertising or discussing specific success rates — this regulation was designed to protect patients from misleading claims. What we can tell you is that Dr [Name] will discuss your individual prognosis at your first consultation based on your specific clinical profile. Would you like to book?" This response is compliant, honest about the regulatory reason, and redirects to the consultation booking.

Q3: Can we mention that we have been operating for X years or performed X IVF cycles? Yes. Number of years operating is a factual credential. Number of IVF cycles performed is a volume credential — it signals experience without making an outcome claim. Both are Section 26-compliant.

Compliance note: ART Act 2021 Section 26, NMC Section 6, DPDP Act 2023.