Tag Archive for: international family law

HCCH Monthly Update: April 2025

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HCCH Monthly Update: April 2025

 

Membership

On 10 April 2025, Qatar applied to become a Member of the HCCH. On the same day, the Secretary General of the HCCH opened the six-month voting period during which all current Members of the HCCH may cast their vote on the proposal. Following this voting period, and provided a majority of votes are cast in favour, Qatar will be invited to become a Member by depositing an instrument of acceptance of the Statute of the HCCH. More information is available here.

 

Meetings & Events

From 2 to 4 April 2025, the conference “15 Years of the HCCH Washington Declaration: Progress and Perspectives on International Family Relocation” was held at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C., United States of America. The conference was jointly organised by the Embassy of Canada, the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL), and the HCCH. More information is available here.

From 7 to 11 April 2025, the Working Group on Parentage / Surrogacy met for the fourth time. Pursuant to its mandate, the Working Group continued its consideration of draft provisions for one new instrument on legal parentage generally, including legal parentage resulting from an international surrogacy agreement. More information is available here.

On 30 April 2025, the seventh meeting of the Working Group established to complete the Country Profile and work on the draft Cooperation Request Recommended Model Form for the 1996 Child Protection Convention was held online, hosted by the Permanent Bureau. More information is available here.

 

Upcoming Events

The webinar “HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention: Bridging Global Justice” will be held via Zoom on Tuesday 6 May 2025 from 4.00 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. (Hong Kong time), hosted by the HCCH’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. Interested persons should register no later than this Friday, 2 May 2025, at 5.00 p.m. (Hong Kong time). More information is available here.

 

These monthly updates are published by the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), providing an overview of the latest developments. More information and materials are available on the HCCH website.

Call for papers: 3rd Postgraduate Law Conference of the Centre for Private International Law and Transnational Governance (Aberdeen)

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The Centre for Private International Law and Transnational Governance of the University of Aberdeen is pleased to announce that it is now accepting submissions for the 3rd Postgraduate Law Conference of the Centre for Private International Law which will take place online on 6 June 2025.  

 Conference Theme: New Dimensions in Private International Law Read more

ELI Extra-Judicial Administration of Justice: 14 February in Vienna

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The European Law Institute (ELI) Extra-Judicial Administration of Justice in Cross-Border Family and Succession Matters project is organising its dissemination conference in Vienna on 14 February. At this all-day event (9.00 to 18.00) experts will present their country reports, comparative findings and policy recommendations, in order to discuss these with the audience.

The project investigated the phenomenon that family and succession law matters are increasingly submitted to other authorities than courts. It seeks a to establish a harmonised concept of “courts” in the EU, taking into account the CJEU case law.

More information and the registration form are available on the ELI website.

Job Opportunity – Postdoctorand in Transnational Family Law (Swiss Institute of Comparative Law)

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The Swiss Institute of Comparative Law (Lausanne) is looking for a Postdoctorand in transnational family law (80%).

The announcement can be found here.

The position will be integrated in the SICL’s team of international lawyers and researchers and be part of a project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation on applicable law, jurisdiction, recognition and international cooperation in the field of filiation with foreign elements.

The aim is to respond to the new legal requirements created by the use of innovative methods of assisted reproductive techniques (ART) and new forms of surrogate motherhood.

HCCH Monthly Update: February 2024

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Conventions & Instruments

On 1 February 2024, the 2007 Child Support Convention entered into force for Canada. At present, 49 States and the European Union are bound by the 2007 Child Support Convention. More information is available here.

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German Federal Supreme Court refers questions to the CJEU relating to the concept of “habitual residence” under Art. 8 (a), (b) of the Rome III Regulation

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In its decision of 20 December 2023 (Case No. XII ZB 117/23), the German Federal Supreme Court has referred three questions to the CJEU relating to the interpretation of Art. 8 (a), (b) of the Rome III Regulation. The following is a convenience translation of the German press release:

Facts of the Case:

The spouses, German nationals, married in 1989. Initially, they lived together in Berlin since 2006. In June 2017 , the couple deregistered their domicile from the German population register (Melderegister) and moved to Stockholm, where the husband was employed at the German embassy. They nonetheless maintained their rented apartment in Berlin so that they could return as soon as the husband’s posting in Sweden was completed. However, when in September 2019 the husband was once again transferred to the embassy in Russia, the parties changed their place of residence from Stockholm straight to Moscow, where the couple lived in a flat on the embassy compound. Both spouses hold diplomatic passports.

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Online Event for the 30th Anniversary of the HCCH 1993 Adoption Convention

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To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1993 Adoption Convention, the Permanent Bureau of the HCCH will be hosting an online event on Wednesday, 31 May 2023, from 14:00 to 18:00 CEST.

The event will feature two round tables, one on “Learning from the Past” and one on “Looking to the Future”, composed of adoption experts from across the world. It will also feature a panel composed by a birth mother, an adoptive mother, and adopted persons, who will discuss their lived experiences.

During the event, panellists will present their views and will respond to selected questions sent in advance of the event.

 

To register, please visit: https://bit.ly/40Dnptk

For more information, please visit: https://bit.ly/3H8IV2j

 

 

FAMIMOVE (FAMIlies on the MOVE) – the website is now live!

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FAMIMOVE is an international project co-funded by the European Commission under the JUST-2022-JCOO program. The FAMIMOVE website is now live and may be consulted by clicking here.

The project  aims to improve the protection of migrant children and families by bringing actual practice more in line with EU goals and values, such as the protection of fundamental rights and best interests of the child. It also seeks to provide more effectiveness to EU objectives through a better coordination of instruments in overlapping fields, such as Regulations in private international law in family law matters and migration law rules. The duration of the project is 24 months (from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2024). For more information, click here.

The Consortium is coordinated by Prof. Marta Pertegás Sender (University of Maastricht) and is comprised of the following partners: Prof. Bettina Heiderhoff (University of Münster), Prof. Costanza Honorati (University of Milano-Bicocca); Prof. Fabienne Jault (University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines), Prof. Ulf Maunsbach (Lund University), Prof. Orsolya Szeibert (Eötvös Loránd University) and Prof. Jinske Verhellen (Ghent University). Each Partner is further supported by colleagues with expertise in  cross-cutting fields, thus bringing together experts who are representatives from a large range of European regions. More information is available here.

FAMIMOVE (actually, FAMIMOVE 2.0) is a spin-off of an earlier initiative, which was very successful and resulted in two insightful documents published by the European Parliament: Children on the Move: A Private International Law Perspective and Private International Law in a Context of Increasing International Mobility: Challenges and Potential.

Any new developments on FAMIMOVE will be published here – stay tuned!

 

HCCH Monthly Update: January 2023

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Conventions & Instruments

On 1 December 2022, the 2007 Maintenance Obligations Protocol entered into force for Ukraine. At present, 31 States and the European Union are bound by the Protocol. More information is available here.

On 7 December 2022, the 1961 Apostille Convention entered into force for Saudi Arabia. The Convention currently has 124 Contracting Parties. More information is available here.

On 1 January 2023, the 1980 Child Abduction Convention entered into force for Cabo Verde. The Convention currently has 103 Contracting Parties. More information is available here.

On 19 January 2023, El Salvador deposited its instrument of accession to the 1970 Evidence Convention. The Convention, which currently has 65 Contracting Parties, will enter into force for El Salvador on 20 March 2023. More information is available here.

 

Publications & Documentation

On 20 December 2022, the Permanent Bureau published the Practitioners’ Tool: Cross-Border Recognition and Enforcement of Agreements Reached in the Course of Family Matters Involving Children. More information is available here.

On 18 January 2023, the Permanent Bureau published the second edition of the Practical Handbook on the Operation of the Apostille Convention. More information is available here.

 

Other

On 13 December 2022, the Permanent Bureau celebrated the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the HCCH Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. More information is available here.

 

These monthly updates are published by the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), providing an overview of the latest developments. More information and materials are available on the HCCH website.

Supreme Court of Canada on International Child Abduction

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Written by Stephen G.A. Pitel, Faculty of Law, Western University

The Supreme Court of Canada has released its decision in F v N, 2022 SCC 51 (available here) and the decision offers some important observations about the law on international child abduction. The court held 5-4 that two young children taken by their mother from UAE to Ontario are to be returned to their father in UAE.

The father and mother were engaged in a dispute over custody rights of the children. The court noted that in the removal/return context, it was not deciding the custody issue but rather deciding which court – Ontario or UAE – would decide that issue [para 1]. Because UAE is not a party to the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, the issue of whether the children should be returned to UAE arose under Ontario legislation (Children’s Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c C.12), though the court noted similarities between the two regimes [para 52].

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