Belgium ratified the Child Protection Convention of 1996
Belgium has ratified the Hague Child Protection Convention of 1996. Readers might remember that the ratification by the EU Member States of this instrument was delayed due to a diplomatic issue. Once this was resolved, the Commission’s objective was that all Member States should ratify the Convention by 2010 (see the Council Decision of 5 June 2008). Some were late. Belgium, as the second last Member State to ratify, has now done so. Of the EU Member States only Italy’s ratification remains outstanding.
The Convention will enter into force in Belgium on 1 September 2014.
Apparently, one should not wait too long for the Convention to be ratified by Italy, too. On 25 June 2014, the lower chamber of the Italian Parliament adopted the text of a statute that authorizes the ratification of the Convention while setting forth a number of legislative provisions aimed at its implementation in the domestic legal order. The statute, however, will only be enacted once approved by the Italian Senate. Two Senate committees – one in charge of justice matters, the other in charge of foreign affairs – are involved in the discussion of the statute. The meetings of the two committees devoted to this file have not yet been scheduled.