The Family Law Act 1975 is
the law that governs DNA paternity testing in Australia. The act is
very strict in the regulations it sets down for testing.
In summary:
- Testing laboratories must hold NATA accreditation
- All parties involved in the testing must give their consent and
sign an affidavit - for paternity testing that means father, mother
(or guardian) and child (if over 18)
- Samples must be collected in a controlled environment by
a medical professional
- The medical professional must also sign a
declararion
- A "chain of custody" must be maintained for the
samples
- Results of the test will be returned to the medical
professional who will pass these results on to those on the
application for testing
The Regulations are 150 pages long and contain many other
guidelines. Some of the those that apply to collection procedures
are explained on the Order yout test
page.
Tests that do not comply to the
Regulations are inadmissible in Family Court
If you're interested, here is a link
to the actual Regulation (PDF - 150p - 553k).