Scope and application
The 1996 Convention aims to avoid orders about children's property and welfare (excluding parental responsibility and contact) being made in any state other than the state in which the child is habitually resident. It also allows orders made in the child's state of habitual residence to be registered and made enforceable in other Convention countries. It establishes a framework for the co-ordination of legal systems, and for international judicial and administrative co-operation.General background
The Hague Children's Conventions
The Hague Conference has, for more than a century, been involved in measures of protection under civil law of children at risk in cross-frontier situations. Three Hague Children's Conventions have been developed over the last twenty-five years, a fundamental purpose being to provide the practical machinery to enable States which share a common interest in protecting children to co-operate together to do so.The 1996 Convention
The 1996 Convention is the broadest in scope of those three, covering as it does a very wide range of civil measures of protection concerning children, ranging from public measures of protection or care to matters of representation to the protection of children's property. It also covers: *Implementation in the European Union
The subject of the convention is one of the subjects treated in the EU's Brussels II regulations. Between member states this regulation takes precedence over the Hague Convention as it is "at least as favourable as the rules laid down in the Convention". The subjects of convention furthermore is an area of mixed competence between the European Union and its member states, which means that the European Union has to authorise it member states to sign and to ratify the convention and state so. The European Union authorised signature and ratification in 2002 and 2008 respectively. The ratification directive was delayed as a result of the Gibraltar dispute between Spain and the United Kingdom. In January 2008 an agreement was reached to resolve the situation to allow progress on this and other treaties. Britain and Spain compromised on a so-called "post-boxing" system under which communications between Spain and Gibraltar involving the treaties will go through London. After this deal the Convention entered into force for several EU countries, including Spain and the United Kingdom. All EU member states have ratified the convention.Implementation in the Russian Federation
The 1996 Convention entered into force in Russia on 1 June 2013. The first use of the Convention in Russia, known as the Neustadt case, concerned the abduction of two minors by their non-custodial father from the United Kingdom to Russia. The case was heard by the Moscow City Court in September 2013, which ruled to recognize and enforce English court orders for a return of the children to their mother in the United Kingdom. The father appealed, but in November 2013 the Moscow City Court upheld their first ruling and the orders to return the children became final. The order was not enforced until the end of June 2014 when Russian law enforcement officials found the children, who had been kept hidden by their father for over seven months since he lost his appeal.External links
References
{{reflist Treaties concluded in 1996 Treaties entered into force in 2002 Hague Conference on Private International Law conventions Treaties of Albania Treaties of Australia Treaties of Austria Treaties of Barbados Treaties of Belgium Treaties of Bulgaria Treaties of Cape Verde Treaties of Croatia Treaties of Cyprus Treaties of Cuba Treaties of the Czech Republic Treaties of Denmark Treaties of Ecuador Treaties of Estonia Treaties of Finland Treaties of Fiji Treaties of France Treaties of Georgia (country) Treaties of Germany Treaties of Greece Treaties of Guyana Treaties of Honduras Treaties of Hungary Treaties of Ireland Treaties of Italy Treaties of Latvia Treaties of Lithuania Treaties of Luxembourg Treaties of Malta Treaties of Monaco Treaties of Montenegro Treaties of Morocco Treaties of the Netherlands Treaties of Nicaragua Treaties of Norway Treaties of Paraguay Treaties of Poland Treaties of Portugal Treaties of Romania Treaties of Russia Treaties of Serbia Treaties of Slovakia Treaties of Slovenia Treaties of Spain Treaties of Sweden Treaties of Switzerland Treaties of Turkey Treaties of Ukraine Treaties of the United Kingdom Treaties of Uruguay Treaties of the Dominican Republic Treaties of Armenia Treaties of Lesotho Family law treaties 1996 in the Netherlands Treaties extended to Curaçao Treaties extended to the Caribbean Netherlands Treaties extended to Gibraltar Treaties extended to Greenland 20th century in The Hague Parental responsibility (access and custody)