Relevant legal texts
On the EU-level, the Brussels IIbis Regulation deals with parental responsibility, including international child abduction (Regulation 2201/2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, repealing Regulation 1347/2000 OJ [2003] L 338/1, available here). The European Commission has drawn up a Practice Guide on the application of this instrument.
This Regulation must be applied in conjunction with the Hague Child Abduction Convention (Convention of 25 October 1980 on the civil aspects of international child abduction, available here). This is confirmed in Consideration 17 and Article 11 of the Regulation. Article 60e) provides that the Brussels IIbis Regulation takes precedence over the Hague Child Abduction Convention in relations between Member States. Reading these provisions together, the result is:
- when a child is abducted from one EU Member State to another, the Hague Convention applies, but is supplemented by the Brussels IIbis Regulation (this is illustrated under heading 4 below);
- when a child is abducted from a Hague Convention Contracting State outside the EU to an EU Member State, or from an EU Member State to a Hague Convention Contracting State outside the EU, the Hague Convention applies.
Note that all EU Member States are Party to the Hague Child Abduction Convention, which has more than 80 States Party.