Brussels, 27/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 24 October in Luxembourg, the justice ministers approved a cooperation regime aiming to simplify the recovery of maintenance payments within the EU. This proposed regulation aims to harmonise the rules on the competency, applicable law, recognition and execution of decisions and cooperation on maintenance payments throughout the EU. Removing the exequatur will allow decisions concerning maintenance payments to circulate freely between practically all member states with no form of control on the substance in the member state of execution. An Italian mother wishing to obtain maintenance payments from her ex-husband in the Netherlands will bring the matter before the Italian justice system, then have this decision validated by the Dutch justice system. Under this new regime, the Italian decision may be directly executed in the country in which her ex-husband is living, which will help to accelerate the recovery of the payments due, by a considerable amount. The decision will be valid for all types of maintenance payments, either between ex-spouses, for children or for the parents of dependent children. The regulation provides for legal aid free of charge for all procedures related to maintenance payments from a parent to a child under 21 years. A system of administrative cooperation between the central authorities of the member states will allow the people in question to obtain concrete assistance, by such means as exchanges of information (helping to locate the debtor, for example). It is worth noting that the United Kingdom will apply the regulation without the provisions relative to the applicable law. In return for this, its decisions will be subject to an exequatur procedure. (B.C./trans.fl)