Judicial co-operation in civil matters: accession of the European Community to the Hague Conference on Private International Law HCCH

PURPOSE: to enable the Community to accede to the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH).

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Decision 2006/719/EC on the accession of the Community to the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

CONTENT: the objective of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) is to work for the progressive unification of the rules of private international law. The HCCH has to date adopted a substantial number of conventions in different fields of private international law.

Since the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Community has competence to adopt measures in the field of judicial cooperation in civil matters having cross-border implications insofar as necessary for the proper functioning of the internal market. The Community has exerted this competence by adopting a number of instruments, many of which coincide, partially or fully, with the areas of work of the HCCH.

Given that it is essential that the Community be granted a status that corresponds to its new role as a major international player in the field of civil judicial cooperation and that it be able to exercise its external competence by participating as a full member in the negotiations of conventions by the HCCH in areas of its competence, the Council has approved the accession of the European Community to the HCCH.

It should be noted that Denmark shall not participate in the adoption of this decision.