Become a sperm donor

When can you become a sperm donor?

There are a number of conditions to become a sperm donor. These conditions are laid down in European and Dutch guidelines.

You can apply if you meet the following criteria:

• You are between 18-45 years old

• You are physically and mentally healthy

• There are no serious hereditary defects in your family

• You are not a carrier of a venereal disease

• You do not run an increased risk of contracting a venereal disease

• You have a permanent place of residence in the Netherlands

• You agree to the disclosure of your personal data to the Donor Data Registry Foundation

In the Netherlands, treatments are only carried out with sperm from non-anonymous donors. In 2004, the law changed so that anonymous sperm donation is no longer possible. This means that donor children can choose to find out who their biological father is from the age of 16. As a donor, you must therefore realise that there is a good chance that in about eighteen years' time, there will be children who may want to get to know you. A sperm donor can never be held legally or financially liable for a child conceived via a sperm bank.

To ensure that a donor does not transmit any infectious diseases to the desired mother, frozen semen is used. Donors are regularly checked for the presence of the most common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). If the blood test shows no infectious diseases six months after the donation, the sperm is released for treatment. 

Different forms of sperm donation

There are different forms of sperm donation. Which forms of donation are possible?

1. Own donor: You know the future parents from your circle of friends or family, and you are only a donor for these future parents.

2. Clinic donor: You donate to the sperm bank for up to 12 families. You do not know the future parents and future parents only receive information about the external characteristics. The sperm bank is obliged to register the data of successful treatments in which a pregnancy has been created with the help of a donor in a database within the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. The Foundation for Donor Data on Artificial Fertilisation (CDKB) manages these data. They are kept for 80 years.

3. Clinic donor with a limited number of offspring: You donate for the sperm bank for a lower number of families than usual.