Republic of Moldova becomes the 81st Member of the Hague Conference; Republic of Kazakhstan seeks membership of the Organisation

Today, Wednesday 16 March 2016, during the meeting of the Council on General Affairs and Policy of the Hague Conference, the Republic of Moldova deposited the instrument of acceptance of the Statute of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, thus becoming the 81st Member of the Organisation.

The Republic of Moldova is currently a Contracting State to eight Hague Conventions, including: the Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille Convention), the Convention of 15 November 1965 on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters (Service Convention), the Convention of 25 October on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (1980 Child Abduction Convention) and the Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (1993 Intercountry Adoption Convention).

Further, the Secretary General received the official proposal from a representative of the depositary of the Hague Conventions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, to admit the Republic of Kazakhstan as a Member of the Organisation. The Secretary General then formally opened the six-month period for existing Members to vote on the proposal. Under the Hague Conference Statute, existing Members have six months to submit their vote on the proposal, in this case until 16 September 2016. Once the voting period ends and the proposal to admit the Republic of Kazakhstan is affirmed by the majority of the votes cast, the Republic of Kazakhstan may deposit its instrument of acceptance of the Statute.

The Republic of Kazakhstan is currently a Contracting State to six Hague Conventions: the Convention of 1 March 1954 on civil procedure, the Apostille Convention, the Service Convention, the 1980 Child Abduction Convention, the Convention of 25 October 1980 on International Access to Justice, and the 1993 Intercountry Adoption Convention.