European Union (Hague Maintenance Convention) Regulations 2019.

• Statutory Instrument No.: 594/2019
• Published date: 03 December 2019

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 3rd December, 2019.

Regulation

CONTENTS

1. Citation 2. Interpretation 3. District Court and district court clerk 4. Convention to have force of law 5. Interpretation of Convention 6. States bound by the Convention and declarations, reservations and denunciations under Convention 7. Designation of Central Authority 8. Application under Article 10 to Central Authority 9. Application to Central Authority for recognition or recognition and enforcement of decision given in a state bound by the Convention 10. Application to Central Authority for enforcement of decision recognised in State 11. Application directly to Master of High Court or District Court (Article 19(5)) 12. Determination by Master of High Court of applications for recognition or recognition and enforcement of decision given in a state bound by the Convention 13. Appeal on point of law to Court of Appeal 14. Enforcement in District Court of recognition order or declaration of enforceability 15. Request for appropriate measures for purposes referred to in Article 6(2)(i) 16. Taking of evidence for purposes of Article 6(2)(g) and Article 7 17. Proof and admissibility of decisions and certain translations 18. Currency of payments 19. Request by Central Authority for information and documentation

I, CHARLES FLANAGAN, Minister for Justice and Equality, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) and for the purpose of giving effect to the Hague Convention of 23 November 2007 on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance approved on behalf of the European Union by Council Decision 2011/432/EU of 9 June 20111 , make the following Regulations:

Citation

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Union (Hague Maintenance Convention) Regulations 2019.

Interpretation

2. (1) In these Regulations -

“Convention” means the Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance done at The Hague on 23 November 2007;

“decision” means -

(a) a decision within the meaning of Article 19, and

(b) a maintenance arrangement within the meaning of Article 3(e);

“declaration of enforceability” has the meaning assigned to it by Regulation 12(4) and a reference to a declaration of enforceability includes a reference to such a declaration as made or varied -

(a) on appeal from a determination of the Master under that Regulation, or

(b) on appeal from a decision of the High Court on such an appeal;

“enforceable maintenance order” shall be construed in accordance with Regulation 14(1);

“maintenance creditor” means, in relation to a decision, the person entitled to the payments for which the decision provides;

“maintenance debtor” means, in relation to a decision, the person who is liable to make a payment under the decision;

“Minister” means the Minister for Justice and Equality;

“recognition order” has the meaning assigned to it by Regulation 12(3) and a reference to a recognition order shall include a reference to such an order as made or varied -

(a) on appeal from a determination of the Master under that Regulation, or

(b) on appeal from a decision of the High Court on such an appeal;

“relevant district court clerk” shall be construed in accordance with Regulation 3(3);

“requesting Central Authority” means a Central Authority in a state bound by the Convention;

“state bound by the Convention” means a state, other than the State, in respect of which the Convention has entered into force in accordance with Article 60 and a reference to such a state shall be taken to include a reference to any territorial unit of that state in respect of which that state has made a declaration, pursuant to Article 61(1), that the Convention shall extend to that territorial unit.

(2) References in these Regulations to numbered Articles without qualification are references to the Articles so numbered of the Convention.

(3) Unless provided otherwise, a word or expression used in these Regulations and in the Convention has the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in the Convention.

District Court and district court clerk

3. (1) The jurisdiction vested in the District Court by these Regulations may be exercised by the judge of that Court for the time being assigned to -

(a) where the maintenance debtor resides in the State, the district court district in which the debtor resides or carries on any profession, business or occupation, or

(b) where the maintenance debtor does not reside in the State but is employed by a person residing or having a place of business in the State or by a body whose seat of management or control is in the State, the district court district in which the person resides or the body has its seat.

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations the Dublin Metropolitan District is deemed to be a district court area.

(3) In these Regulations, a reference to a relevant district court clerk shall be construed -

(a) where the maintenance debtor resides in the State, as a reference to a district court clerk for the district court area in which the debtor resides or carries on any profession, business or occupation, or

(b) where the maintenance debtor does not reside in the State but is employed by a person residing or having a place of business in the State or by a body whose seat of management or control is in the State, as a reference to a district court clerk for the district court area in which the person resides or the body has its seat.

Convention to have force of law

4. The Convention has the force of law in the State and judicial notice shall be taken of it.

Interpretation of Convention

5. (1) Judicial notice shall be taken of any judgments, concerning the Convention, delivered by courts of states bound by the Convention and a court shall, when interpreting and applying the Convention, take due account of the principles laid down by those judgments.

(2) Judicial notice shall be taken of the explanatory report prepared by Alegría Borrás and Jennifer Degeling on the Convention and that report may be considered by any court when interpreting the meaning of the Convention and shall be given such weight as is appropriate in the circumstances.

States bound by the Convention and declarations, reservations and denunciations under Convention

6. (1) The Minister may, by order declare -

(a) that a state specified in the order is a state bound by the Convention, or

(b) that -

(i) a declaration (the text of which shall be set out in the order), referred to in Article 2, 11, 16, 24, 30, 44, 59 or 61, has been made in accordance with Article 63,

(ii) a modification or withdrawal of a declaration (the text of which shall be set out in the order) has been made pursuant to Article 63,

(iii) a reservation (the text of which shall be set out in the order), referred to in Article 2, 20, 30, 44 or 55, has been made in accordance with Article 62,

(iv) a withdrawal of a reservation (the text of which shall be set out in the order) has been made pursuant to Article 62, or

(v) a denunciation (the text of which shall be set out in the order) has been made pursuant to Article 64,

to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

(2) An order that is in force under paragraph (1) shall be evidence -

(a) as respects any declaration by the Minister in that order under subparagraph (a) of that paragraph, that any state to which the declaration relates is a state bound by the Convention, and

(b) as respects any declaration by the Minister in that order under subparagraph (b) of that paragraph, that the declaration, reservation, modification, withdrawal or denunciation, as the case may be, was made and of its contents.

Designation of Central Authority

7. The Minister is designated as the Central Authority for the State for the purposes of the Convention and these Regulations.

Application under Article 10 to Central Authority

8. Where an application referred to in Article 10 is made by a requesting Central Authority to the Central Authority, the Central Authority shall, on behalf of the applicant, take any action which is required to be taken by it under the Convention and, in that context, references in the Convention to the applicant, the party or other analogous terms shall be construed, where appropriate, as references to the Central Authority.

Application to Central Authority for recognition or recognition and enforcement of decision given in a state bound by Convention

9. (1) Without prejudice to the generality of Regulation 8, the Central Authority shall send an application to the Master of the High Court for determination in accordance with Regulation 12 where -

(a) the application is -

(i) received from a requesting Central Authority, and

(ii) in accordance with Article 10(1)(a), for the recognition or for the recognition and enforcement of a decision made in a state bound by the Convention,

and

(b) it is satisfied the requirements of Article 25, Article 30 (in so far as the decision referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) is a decision which is a maintenance arrangement) and, where applicable, Article 26, have been complied with in respect of that application.

(2) The Central Authority shall, as soon as practicable after the making of a determination by the Master of the High Court under Regulation 12 in respect of an application referred to in paragraph (1), send the following to the requesting Central Authority:

(a) the determination of the Master of the High Court and a copy of the recognition order or declaration of enforceability made (if any), and

(b) a statement of Article 23(5), (6), (7) and (8).

(3) The Central Authority shall send a...