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.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council adopts
the act after consulting the European Parliament but without being
obliged to follow its opinion.
BACKGROUND: the 1980 Hague Convention has been
ratified by 97 countries, including all EU Member States. It aims
to restore the status quo by mean of the prompt return of
wrongfully removed or retained children through a system of
cooperation among central authorities appointed by its Contracting
Parties.
As the prevention of child abduction is an essential
part of the EU policy to promote the rights of the child, the
European Union is active at international level to improve the
application of the 1980 Convention and encourages third States to
accede it.
The 1980 Convention stipulates that the Convention
applies between the acceding country and such Contracting States as
will have declared their acceptance of the accession.
As the matter of international child abduction falls
within the exclusive external competence of the European
Union, the decision whether to accept the accession of Chile,
Iceland and Bahamas has to be taken at EU level by means of a
Council Decision.
Chile, Iceland and the Bahamas respectively deposited the accession instrument to the
Convention on 23 February 1994, 14 August 1996 and 1 October 1993.
The Convention is already in force with 27 Member States regarding
Chile and Iceland and with 26 Member States in the case of the
Bahamas. When consulted by the Commission, Romania issued a
favourable opinion on the accession of these three countries to the
Convention.
Accordingly, Romania should therefore be authorised to
deposit its declaration of acceptance of the accession of Chile,
Iceland and Bahamas in the interest of the Union.
As far as parental child abduction is concerned, the
1980 Hague Convention is the international counterpart of Council
Regulation No 2201/2003 (known as the Brussels IIa Regulation).
One of its main objectives is to deter child abduction between
Member States by establishing procedures to ensure the child's
prompt return to the Member State of his/her habitual
residence.
Ten Council Decisions have been already adopted between June 2015 and
December 2016 in order to accept the accession to the 1980 Hague
Convention on International Child Abduction of 10 third countries
(Morocco,
Singapore,
Russia,
Albania,
Andorra,
the
Seychelles, Armenia,
the
Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan
and Peru).
CONTENT: with this proposal for a decision, the
Council is invited to adopt a decision authorising Romania to
accept, in the interest of the Union, the accession of Chile,
Iceland and the Bahamas to the 1980 Hague
Convention.
Romania should table its declaration of acceptance of
the accession of these three countries no later than 12
months after the date of adoption of this Decision.
The United Kingdom and Ireland are bound by Regulation
(EC) No 2201/2003 and therefore participate in the adoption and
application of this Decision.
The acceptance of Romania would render the 1980
Convention applicable between Bahamas and all EU Member States
except Denmark. In relation to Chile and Iceland the 1980
Convention will become applicable with all EU Member
States.