Brussels, 30/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 30 June, the European Commission proposed new EU rules that protect children in the context of cross-border parental responsibility disputes related to custody, access rights and child international abduction.
These new rules seek to amend Regulation 2201/2003 on matrimonial and parental responsibility decisions ("Brussels II (b)") and will help "speed up the legal and administrative proceedings and ensure that the child's best interest is always taken into account", commented Commissioner for Justice, Vera Jourova, when she explained her proposal. The scale of the challenges involved was highlighted by the Commission figure of 16 million couples described as "international" who currently live in the European Union and who would be directly affected by the new rules.
The amendments made to the existing legal framework are expected to focus on the efficiency of procedures in the event of international child abductions by one of the two parents. The deadlines applied to different stages of the child return procedure will be limited to a maximum period of 18 weeks (maximum six weeks for the receiving Central Authority to process the application, six weeks for the first instance court, and six weeks for the appellate court).
A decision on return will be appealable only once, and the judge will have to consider whether a judgment ordering the return of the child should be enforceable in the meantime. In full respect of the structure of the national legal systems, it will be ensured that the parental child abduction cases are heard by a limited number of courts so that judges develop the necessary expertise.
The Commission proposal also emphasises that they need to ensure that the child is heard and is guaranteed an opportunity to express views in all proceedings concerning their case. This will apply in particular to proceedings on custody and access, and on the return of children if they were abducted by one of their parents.
Rapid enforcement of decisions must be made in the member states and the exequatur, an intermediary procedure required for the enforcement of a judgment in another country, will be abolished. Where enforcement has not yet occurred after six weeks, the court will inform the requesting Central Authority in the member state of origin or directly the applicant about the reasons for the lack of timely enforcement. The new regulation also insists on cooperation between the different authorities in the member states.
On average, in cases of return procedures, the possible legal costs can be as high as €2200. Abolishing exequatur proceedings will help save from around €1,100 to 4,000 per case in some member states. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)