Meeting of the Experts’ Group on Recognition and Enforcement of Agreements in Family Matters

From 14 to 16 June 2017, the Experts’ Group on cross-border recognition and enforcement of agreements in family disputes involving children met at the offices of the Permanent Bureau in the Hague. The meeting was attended by 28 experts and members of the Permanent Bureau under the chairmanship of Pr. Paul Beaumont from the University of Aberdeen.

The mandate of the Experts’ Group is to develop a non-binding “navigation tool” to provide best practices on how an agreement made in the area of family law involving children can be recognised and enforced in a foreign State under the 1980 Child Abduction, 1996 Child Protection and 2007 Child Support Conventions. After the discussions on a draft “navigation tool”, the Experts’ Group agreed to recommend to the Council on General Affairs and Policy of the Hague Conference to develop a new Hague Convention that would build on, and add value to, the above mentioned Conventions.

The Conclusions & Recommendations of the Experts’ Group are available here. They will be presented to the Council on General Affairs and Policy of the Conference at its March 2018 meeting.