PURPOSE: to authorise Romania to accept the accession of Chile, Iceland and the Bahamas to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Decision (EU) 2017/2424 authorising Romania to accept, in the interest of the European Union, the accession of Chile, Iceland and the Bahamas to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
CONTENT: the Council Decision authorises Romania to accept, in the interest of the Union, the accession of Chile, Iceland and the Bahamas to the 1980 Hague Convention.
Romania shall be authorised to deposit its declaration of acceptance concerning the accession of these three countries by 19 December 2018 at the latest.
The 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction establishes, at international level, a system of obligations and cooperation among contracting states and between central authorities and aims at ensuring the prompt return of wrongfully removed or retained children. All the Member States of the Union are parties to the Convention.
At EU level, Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 (Brussels IIa Regulation) complements and reinforces the 1980 Hague Convention.
The Union encourages third states to accede to the 1980 Hague Convention.
The existence of the exclusive competence of the European Union to accept the accession of a third State to the 1980 Convention has been confirmed by the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Chile, Iceland and the Bahamas respectively deposited the instrument of accession to the Convention on 23 February 1994, 14 August 1996 and 1 October 1993. The Convention is already in force with 27 Member States in Chile and Iceland and with 26 Member States in respect of the Bahamas.
An assessment of the situation in Chile, Iceland and the Bahamas led to the conclusion that Romania is in a position to accept the accession of these countries to the Convention.
The United Kingdom and Ireland shall be bound by the Brussels IIa Regulation and participate in the adoption and application of the Decision. Denmark shall not be bound by this Decision.
ENTRY INTO FORCE: the Decision shall take effect on the day of its notification.