International surrogacy arrangements test the public policy exception: an Italian perspective

With increasingly frequent judicial decisions concerning surrogacy arrangements in several countries, a reappraisal of the role of general principles of private international law is required. In these cases, in particular, the public policy (or order) exception, meant to protect the founding values of the domestic legal order concerned, needs to be read in light of the best interests of the child. The Italian case law is particularly illustrative in this regard and is thoroughly analysed in this paper.