PURPOSE: to authorise Austria, Luxembourg and Romania
to accept, in the interest of the European Union, the accession of
Belarus and Uzbekistan 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 Belarus and Uzbekistan has to be taken at EU level by
means of a Council Decision.
Belarus and
Uzbekistan deposited their accession instruments to the
1980 Convention on 12 January 1998 and 31 May 1999 respectively.
The 1980 Convention is already in force between these two third
countries and 24 EU Member States. Austria, Luxembourg and Romania,
consulted by the Commission, gave a favourable opinion on
the accession of Belarus and Uzbekistan 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, Luxembourg and Romania to
accept, in the interest of the European Union, the accession of
Belarus and Uzbekistan 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, Luxembourg and
Romania should
submit their declarations 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, Luxembourg and Romania
would render the 1980 Convention applicable between Belarus,
Uzbekistan and all EU Member States except Denmark.