Commission recommends the EU recognise 8 additional countries as parties to the 1980 Hague Convention.

The European Commission proposed the EU accept Russia and seven more countries as parties to the 1980 Hague Convention on child abduction. If accepted by the Council the move will effectively extend protection for children in the EU to eight new countries: Russia, Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Gabon, Morocco, Seychelles and Singapore.

Article 38(4) of the 1980 Convention stipulates that the Convention applies between the acceding country and Contracting States that declare their acceptance of the accession. Therefore, the European Union has to decide whether to accept the accession of Russia and other countries. As the matter of international child abduction falls into the exclusive external competence of the European Union, the decision whether the EU, via its Member States, should accept other countries' accession to the 1980 Convention has to be taken by means of a Council Decision.

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/1582&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

UK Supreme Court hears Re S today.

The Uk Supreme Court is hearing the case of Re S today (20th February 2012) The case concerns the approach that ought to be taken to the assessment of the evidence in cases where the Respondent relies on the Article 13b exception, particularly where the abductor relies on the impact on themself of a return. The High Court and the Court of Appeal both refer to guidance on the Article 13(b) exception given by the Supreme Court in Re E (Children) (Abduction: Custody Appeal) [2011] UKSC 27; [2012] 1 A.C. 144, including as to the potential relevance of protective measures. The main questions before the Supreme Court are (i) as to whether, and if so in what circumstances, the Article 13(b) exception can be established on the basis of the subjective perceptions of the abducting parent; and (ii) the circumstances in which an appellate court is entitled to interfere with an assessment made by the judge at first instance.

If it is televised find it on http://news.sky.com/home/supreme-court
Case information at http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/current-cases/CCCaseDetails/case_2011_0265.html

Government response to Norgrove Review

The coalition governments response to the Norgrove Report was published this morning. By and large they have accepted the recommendations of the Report. One significant area where they have departed from the Report is on the question of whether there should be a legislative presumption of shared parenting. The Norgrove Report concluded (based largely on feedback from other countries) that such presumptions were very difficult to operate in practice and could lead to greater rather than less litigation. However the Government have decided that they will introduce some form of legislative shared parenting presumption. The form that such a presumption will take is to be considered by a committee of ministers and is always to be subject to the child's best interests. However it is likely to affirm that it will be in a child's best interests to have a meaningful relationship with both parents post separation provided it is safe to do so. It is hoped that by doing so the importance of both parents will be emphasised with a view to encouraging separating parents to reach arrangements which allow both to play a meaningful role in the life of their child. The Response recognises that there are strong views on each side of the debate and that the evidence in relation to the benefits of such presumptions is not clear but nonetheless the Government has concluded it is a worthwhile enterprise to pursue.