Parliament has passed the first reading of a bill that will make sure fertility clinics don't have to destroy frozen sperm, eggs and embryos.

Justice Minister Simon Power said the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2004 regulated the length of time gamete (sperm and eggs) and embryos could be stored.

It had been understood that a 10-year limit applied from the date the Act was passed, in November 2004, but legal advice was that it applied from the date on which gamete and embryos were stored.

Mr Power said that since in vitro fertilisation had been used for the past 20 years, a large number of gamete or embryos had now been stored for more than 10 years.

"Fertility clinics, acting in good faith, may have unknowingly breached the Act by storing gamete or embryos for longer than the applicable period," he said.

"Unless Section 10 of the Act is amended, fertility clinics may be required to destroy such gamete or embryos, with devastating impacts on the lives of those people who supplied them."

When the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology (Storage) Amendment Bill is passed, the storage period will last to 2014.

Mr Power said there had to be a limit on the growing pool of stored gamete and embryos, and provisions in the Act for extensions under particular circumstances would continue to be in force.

The bill passed its first reading tonight on a unanimous vote and was referred to the health select committee.