The relevance of the article is termined by the fact that the surrogacy industry is currently rapidly developing. This is not only an effective way to help couples who do not have the opportunity to conceive children on their own, but also a big business. The cost of commercial surrogacy is quite high. This correct and useful deed quickly turned into a high-budget illegal event. It involves transnational criminal organizations. In this connection, the attitude towards surrogacy around the world is diverse and ambiguous. There are countries where this act is prohibited under threat of punishment. The aim of the study is to comprehensively study the legal problems of regulating relations associated with surrogacy. The research methodology is based on the analysis of the criminal law regulation of similar relations in foreign countries, implementation of best practices in the legislation of the Russian Federation as well as improvement of regulatory legal acts in matters of assisted reproduction and protection of individuals from illegal exploitation. The author came to the conclusion that it is necessary to adopt uniform standards for all countries that regulate surrogacy, which would take into account the interests of all the parties involved and create a mechanism for crim-inal law counteraction to shadow surrogacy.