PURPOSE: to authorise Austria, Cyprus, Croatia,
Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania and the United Kingdom to accept, in
the interest of the European Union, the accession of the Dominican
Republic to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of
International Child Abduction (the 1980 Convention).
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 Convention has been
ratified by 98 countries including all EU Member States. Its
purpose is to restore the status quo by means 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.
In its Opinion 1/13 of the Court of Justice of the
European Union, it was stated that the exclusive competence of
the European Union. The decision whether to accept the
accession of the Dominican Republic has to be taken at EU level by
means of a Council Decision.
The Dominican Republic deposited the accession instrument to the 1980
Convention on 11 August 2004. The 1980 Convention is already into
force between the Dominican Republic and 20 EU Member States.
Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania
and the United Kingdom have not yet accepted the accession of the
Dominican Republic to the Convention.
As regards parental abduction, the 1980 Convention is
the international counterpart to Council
Regulation No 2201/2003 (Brussels IIa Regulation), one of the
main objectives of which is to discourage parents from abducting
their children to another Member State by establishing procedures
which ensure the immediate return of the child to the Member State
of his or her habitual residence.
14 Council Decisions have been already adopted between June 2015 and
December 2017 in order to accept the accession to the 1980 Hague
Convention on International Child Abduction of 20 third countries
(Morocco, Singapore, the Russian Federation, Albania, Andorra, the
Seychelles, Armenia, the Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, Peru,
Georgia, South Africa, Chile, Iceland, the Bahamas, Panama,
Uruguay, Colombia, El Salvador and San Marino).
CONTENT: the Commission proposes that the Council
adopt a decision authorising Austria, Cyprus, Croatia,
Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania and the United Kingdom to accept, in
the interest of the European Union, the accession of the Dominican
Republic to the 1980 Hague Convention.
The present proposal is evidently linked to the
general objective enshrined in Article 3 of the Treaty on the
European Union to protect the rights of the child.
Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, Luxembourg, Portugal,
Romania and the United Kingdom should submit its declaration of
acceptance at the latest 12 months after the date of adoption of
this Decision.
The United Kingdom and Ireland are bound by the
Brussels IIa Regulation and are therefore taking part in the
adoption and application of this Decision.
The acceptance of Austria, Cyprus, Croatia,
Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania and the United Kingdom would render
the 1980 Convention applicable between the Dominican Republic and
all EU Member States except Denmark.