PURPOSE: to authorise Croatia, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania to accept the accession of San Marino to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Decision (EU) 2017/2463 authorising Croatia, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania to accept, in the interest of the European Union, the accession of San Marino to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
CONTENT: the Council Decision authorises Croatia, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania to accept, in the interests of the Union, the accession of San Marino to the 1980 Hague Convention.
Croatia, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania shall be authorised to deposit their declarations of acceptance for the accession of San Marino 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.
San Marino deposited its instrument of accession to the 1980 Hague Convention on 14 December 2006. The Convention is already in force with 23 Member States in respect of San Marino.
An assessment of the situation in San Marino led to the conclusion that Croatia, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania are 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.