The German Embryo Protection Act prohibits the use of an embryo for purposes other than serving its preservation. This ban, thus, also includes the use of "surplus" embryos for stem cell derivation. However, subject to certain conditions, the Stem Cell Act does permit the importation of stem cells which have been derived from "surplus" embryos. These conditions stipulate that the stem cells must have been created before 1 January 2002. In its “Recommendations of the German Research Foundation (DFG) on research using human stem cells of 3 May 2001”, the DFG expressed its opinion on the derivation of embryonic stem cells from "surplus" embryos. According to these recommendations, the DFG advocates conditional approval of the creation of embryonic stem cells from "surplus" embryos if the imported embryonic stem cells should “prove to be objectively unsuitable” or if “research work with them [were to be] constrained in an unjustifiable manner.” In its “Second Interim Report: Subject Report Stem Cell Research” of 12 November 2001, the Study Commission of the German Bundestag “Law and Ethics of Modern Medicine” expressed its objections against the “legalisation of the establishment of stem cell lines from ‘surplus embryos’ by amending the protection standard in the Embryo Protection Act.” In its “Opinion on the import of human embryonic stem cells” of 20 December 2001, the members of the National Ethics Council did not vote unanimously on the question of the derivation of embryonic stem cells from so-called "surplus" embryos: 9 out of 25 members voted in favour of conditional, ethical admissibility.