The new rules are a significant boost to the 10-year time limit currently imposed and will allow people to reassess whether they want to keep or discard their frozen cells on a 10-yearly basis.
The same rules will apply to everyone and storage limits will not be dictated by medical need.
The proposed changes are made possible by using the latest freezing methods. Research from the Royal College of Obstetricians (RCO) has found that frozen eggs can be stored indefinitely without deterioration, due to a new freezing technique called vitrification.
The changes also reflect the increasing success of using frozen embryos in routine in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it would be “inappropriate” for the limit to apply to all cases and there will be additional conditions around third party donors and posthumous use that will be consulted upon.
Dr Edward Morris, president at the RCO, said: “We very much welcome...