in civil and commercial matters /
Report of activities since the 7thmeeting of the central authorities in June 2013 ( Dublin)
United Kingdom
England and Wales
1.Organisational questions
a)Describe any organisational changes and any changes in your financial and human resources since the last activity report
Once again there has been a significant increase in requests for exchange of information under Article 55 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 (the Council Regulation) which has meant more work for the International Child Abduction and Contact Unit (ICACU) (the Central Authority for England and Wales). Incoming requests have increased by 79% and outgoing requests by 161% from 2012 to 2013.
The staffing level at ICACU is now 9.5 members of staff (an increase of three staff from the last report).
ICACU’s translation budget remains the same as at the time of the last report. However, the large increase in cases means that ICACU is monitoring its budget closely.
ICACU’s paperless office pilot in mid-July 2013 was successful. ICACU now works as a paperless unit. Original applications or court decisions are forwarded on and ICACU keeps a scanned copy.
b)If more than one central authority has been designated in your MemberState, indicate any changes in the responsibilities of the different central authorities
There are different central authorities for each of the United Kingdom’s jurisdictions. Within England and Wales the same staff are assigned to cases under both the 1980 Hague Convention and the Council Regulation, allowing a concentration of experience and expertise, and development of working relationships with other central authorities.
By way of reminder the ICACU has delegated duties as Central Authority for England only under the 1996 Hague Convention. The Welsh Government is the Central Authority for Wales for the 1996 Hague Convention.
2.Working method (Article 57)
a)Indicate any changes in your working method since the last activity report
To comply with domestic data protection good practice, the ICACU uses password protection to send personal information by email. Unfortunately, some Central Authorities are still experiencing difficulty in receiving password protected emails and/or opening password protected attachments. The ICACU has identified these Central Authorities and is using other means to communicate where necessary.
To assist the ICACU in managing its workload, ICACU would like to remind other Central Authorities that the is the dedicated e-mail address for receiving new requests. If a case manager has been assigned to a request, a Central Authority should correspond with the case manager using their individual email that they will provide. This is to ensure there are no delays to requests.
After further consideration it was agreed that the ICACU would not use the additional resources mentioned in the last report as a dedicated case manager for requests made and received under Article 55 and 56 of the Council Regulation. The case managers continue to have a mixture of Conventions and Regulation work.
b)Describe any best working practices applied within your central authority or in its dealings with other central authorities
Nothing new to report.
c)Have you experienced any specific language or communication-related problems?
In ICACU’s experience the economic downturn has continued to have an impact on some Central Authorities' ability to translate correspondence and documentation.
d)Have you experienced any particular problems in relation to working method and if yes, how in your view these problems could be resolved?
In the last report we said in our experience Article 55 and Article 56 requests are presented to the ICACU in a variety of manners and are often received at a very late stage in the public law proceedings commenced in England or Wales. The ICACU has contributed to guidance issued by the lead Ministry on children’s issues and the ICACU has undertaken several outreach projects with competent authorities to share the practical experiences the ICACU has gained in working with other Member States.
3.General functions (Article 54)
a)Describe any actiontaken since the last activity reportto inform on national laws and procedures
England and Wales are continuing with an ongoing policy review in relation to the operation of Article 56 in light of the CJEU’s decision, Case C-92/12 PPU Health Service Executive v SC and AC. This exercise involves a number of Government Ministries.
b)Describe any action taken to strengthen cooperation with other central authorities
Nothing new to report.
c)Have any measures been taken in your MemberState to improve the application of the Regulation?
Please see our answer to Question 2 (d).
4.Cooperation on cases specific to parental responsibility (Article 55)
a)Please describe any relevant action taken since the last activity report to:
i.)Collect and exchange information
The ICACU has received a high volume of requests under this provision. In 2012 the ICACU received a total of 127 new requests under this provision. In 2013 this increased to a total of 276 new requests. As of 31 October 2014, the ICACU had received a total of 463 new requests under this Article in 2014 alone. The number of outgoing requests continues to increase. This is due to increased awareness of the Council Regulation and its role in public law proceedings due to a Practice Direction issued by the judiciary which supports the Family Procedure Rules 2010 and influential case law.
The ICACU notes that most requests are between England and Wales and Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Portugal and Romania.
ii.)Provide information and assistance to holders of parental responsibility
Nothing new to report
iii.)Facilitate court-to-court communication
As reported before,in January 2005 the judicial post of Head of International Family Justicewas created for the jurisdiction of England and Wales. Among the activities of the office is the promotion of direct international judicial communication both in specific cases and more generally. The judicial Head of International Family Justice for England and Walescan initiate exchanges with judges from other countries when invited to do so, which occurs in some cases. Cross-border judicial communication in these cases can take three days to two weeks. Every attempt is made to try to deal with cases as quickly as possible and to that end the ICACU often collaborates with the Head of International Family Justice’s office.
Further information on the office of the Head of International Family Justice can be found at:
iv.)Provide information and assistance needed by courts in the context of Article56
Nothing new to report.
v.)Facilitate agreement between holders of parental responsibility through mediation or other means, and facilitate cross-border cooperation to this end
As reported before, the UK’s leading Non Governmental Organisation for international parental child abduction, Reunite International Child Abduction Centre (a charity which receives funding from the Ministry of Justice and the UK’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs) undertakes mediation which is arranged to run concurrently with the return proceedings. This allows the court to incorporate the mediation process into the court proceedings to ensure that mediation does not delay the decision on the return application. It also means that any memorandum of understanding arrived at through mediation can be incorporated into a consent order by the court. The cost of the mediation is covered by legal aid so that, with the consent of both parties, mediation can be attempted in all 1980 Hague Convention proceedings issued in England and Wales. Full details of the mediation scheme can be found on Reunite’s website:
There is also a Court of Appeal Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme for family appeals. Although the scheme is not mandatory, and indeed depends upon the reciprocal consent of the parties, it has proved effective in international child abduction. Once the parties have consented to mediate, the process is directed by the Court of Appeal. Cases under the Council Regulation clearly require a mediator with particular experience and expertise in international child disputes. Accordingly the Court of Appeal invariably refers such mediations to Reunite.
b)Have you experienced any particular problems in relation to any of the above matters and ifyes, how in your view these problems could be resolved?
Please see answer to 2 d).
5.Observations on the application of the Regulation
To the extent not already covered by points 1. to 4. above, please comment on the application of the Regulation in your MemberState and the European Union as a whole
The ICACU is still often approached for assistance at very late stages of public law proceedings commenced in England and Wales and/or with very tight timescales to exchange information.
The ICACU has noted that there are varying timescales for receiving requested information from Local Authorities within England and Wales. The ICACU have also found it takes a variable length of time for exchange of information between Member States.
In April 2014 domestic public law changed. The changes included action to ensure public law cases are dealt with within 26 weeks of issue in court. The President of the Family Division (the senior family judge) has issued guidance within a case called Re S (A child)[2014] (reference: EWCC B44 (Fam)) which said that an extension to this limit can be made for care cases with an international element. The ICACU is directing local authorities to this case law and explaining there are no time limits in the Council Regulation for exchange of information. This is to try to alleviate undue pressures on other Member States to collect information within short timeframes.
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Record of case numbers processed by the England and Wales Central Authority from March 2005 until December 2013 under Council Regulation 2201/2003
Year / Article 11 - Abduction / Article 15 - Transfer to a better placed court / Article 39 - Parental Responsibility / Article 41 - Access / Article 42 - Return of the child / Article 55 - Co operation on specific cases / Article 56 - Placement of a child / Totalincoming / outgoing / incoming / outgoing / incoming / outgoing / incoming / outgoing / incoming / outgoing / incoming / outgoing / incoming / outgoing
2005 / 95 / 87 / 2 / 1 / 1 / 186
2006 / 110 / 86 / 1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 3 / 5 / 2 / 218
2007 / 116 / 107 / 2 / 1 / 2 / 4 / 1 / 6 / 8 / 1 / 248
2008 / 129 / 119 / 1 / 1 / 3 / 2 / 16 / 3 / 4 / 4 / 282
2009 / 131 / 133 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 3 / 6 / 1 / 32 / 1 / 2 / 4 / 320
2010 / 160 / 101 / 2 / 2 / 5 / 3 / 30 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 315
2011 / 177 / 136 / 2 / 1 / 5 / 4 / 1 / 36 / 10 / 20 / 2 / 394
2012 / 159 / 127 / 4 / 1 / 2 / 7 / 5 / 1 / 1 / 68 / 59 / 19 / 7 / 460
2013 / 170 / 149 / 3 / 5 / 4 / 10 / 8 / 122 / 154 / 40 / 15 / 680
Total / 1247 / 1045 / 10 / 11 / 9 / 17 / 40 / 40 / 2 / 5 / 312 / 232 / 94 / 39 / 3103
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Scotland1.Organisational questions
a)Describe any organisational changes and any changes in your financial and human resources since the last activity report
None.
b)If more than one central authority has been designated in your MemberState, indicate any changes in the responsibilities of the different central authorities
There are separate Central Authorities for each of the United Kingdom’s jurisdictions.
2.Working method (Article 57)
a)Indicate any changes in your working method since the last activity report
None.
b)Describe any best working practices applied within your central authority or in its dealings with other central authorities
Applications and supporting documents are if necessary translated before submission to other central authorities. Applications are faxed or e-mailed to ensure prompt receipt and top copies are posted using DHL or other courier services.
c)Have you experienced any specific language or communication-related problems?
We generally receive translations of relevant documents from Member States in English. If documents are received in languages other than English, there can be a delay in processing the case.
d)Have you experienced any particular problems in relation to working method and if yes, how in your view these problems could be resolved?
Working methods tend to vary from authority to authority, but cooperation is generally very good and any problems are usually resolvable.
3.General functions (Article 54)
a)Describe any action taken since the last activity report to inform on national laws and procedures
None.
b)Describe any action taken to strengthen cooperation with other central authorities
Attendance at EJN, EU and Hague Conference meetings.
c)Have any measures been taken in your MemberState to improve the application of the Regulation?
We have revised our procedures for dealing with Article 55 and 56 cases to allow these to be dealt with more efficiently.
4.Cooperation on cases specific to parental responsibility (Article 55)
a)Please describe any relevant action taken since the last activity report to:
i.)Collect and exchange information
In 2013, we dealt with 7 incoming, requests under Article 55. In 2014 (up to 31 October) we dealt with 16 requests (8 incoming and 8 outgoing). Most of the requests involved the CzechRepublic, Latvia and Slovakia.
ii.)Provide information and assistance to holders of parental responsibility
The Central Authority dealt with numerous requests from parents and other holders of parental responsibility.
iii.)Facilitate court-to-court communication
We dealt with 3 cases involving the application of Articles 11(6) and 11(7) in relation to orders on non-return pursuant to Article 13 of the 1980 Hague Convention.
iv.)Provide information and assistance needed by courts in the context of Article56
We dealt with 5 requests under Article 56 in 2013 for placement of children in Scotland and have had one request so far in 2014. These were all from Ireland.
v.)Facilitate agreement between holders of parental responsibility through mediation or other means, and facilitate cross-border cooperation to this end
In most cases, the solicitor we commission to act for the left-behind parent, is asked to seek voluntary return by the abducting parent before consideration is given to court proceedings.
b)Have you experienced any particular problems in relation to any of the above matters and ifyes, how in your view these problems could be resolved?
No particular problems.
5.Observations on the application of the Regulation
To the extent not already covered by points 1. to 4. above, please comment on the application of the Regulation in your MemberState and the European Union as a whole
There is evidence of an increase in awareness and use of the Regulation, particularly in relation to the use of Article 55. We dealt with our first outgoing requests in 2014, all of which emanated from Social Work Departments in Scottish Local Authorities.
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Record of case numbers processed by the Scottish Central Authority from March 2005 until 31 October 2014 under Council Regulation 2201/2003
Calendar Year / Article 11 - Abduction / Article 15 - Transfer to a better placed court / Article 39 - Parental Responsibility / Article 41 - Access / Article 42 - Return of the child / Article 55 - Co operation on specific cases / Article 56 - Placement of a child / Totalincoming / outgoing / incoming / outgoing / incoming / outgoing / incoming / outgoing / incoming / outgoing / incoming / outgoing / incoming / outgoing
2005 / 4 / 5 / 2 / 1 / 12
2006 / 10 / 4 / 1 / 15
2007 / 12 / 7 / 1 / 1 / 21
2008 / 6 / 3 / 1 / 10
2009 / 10 / 9 / 3 / 1 / 23
2010 / 9 / 5 / 4 / 1 / 1 / 3 / 23
2011 / 18 / 8 / 4 / 1 / 2 / 11 / 44
2012 / 4 / 9 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 2 / 20
2013 / 6 / 20 / 1 / 7 / 5 / 39
2014* / 11 / 9 / 3 / 2 / 8 / 8 / 1 / 42
Total / 90 / 79 / 1 / 18 / 9 / 21 / 9 / 22 / 249
* 2014 figures are to 31 October.
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Northern Ireland1.Organisational questions
a)Describe any organisational changes and any changes in your financial and human resources
To date the Northern Ireland Central Authority has dealt with 391 cases, 43 of them from the last activity report in June 2013 to November 2014. The activity statistics below show the spread of these cases for 2010-13 (89 applications received). So far in 2014 we have received 29 applications a slight increase from this time last year. Since the devolution of Justice to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2010, responsibility for the Central Authority for Northern Ireland remains within the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service. However the function now resides with the Central Business Unit in Court Operations Division. Expert policy and legal support is provided from the wider Department of Justice. Two staff work directly on aspects of child abduction matters however this forms only part of their roles. The Unit also acts as Central Authority for the Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance (REMO) which again concentrates expertise in this discreet area of international law.
b)If more than one central authority has been designated in your MemberState, indicate any changes to the responsibilities of the different central authorities
The answer given for EnglandWales explains that there are separate central authorities for the different United Kingdom jurisdictions. We continueto enjoy a good working relationship with our colleagues and share informationfreely.
2.Working methods (Article 57)
a)Indicate any changes in your working methods
In April 2014 the Central Authority established a Panel of Solicitors willing to accept referrals in respect of applications received by the Central Authority involving international children’s law (for child abduction and parental responsibility matters). This Panel equates to the referral list of specialist solicitors which operates in the England and Wales Central Authority. The referral process has been working well. Applications to be added to this referral list are considered on an on-going basis once the criteria is met that demonstrates that the law firm and the individual solicitor have the resources and competencies to take forward this discreet area of demanding work.
b)Describe any best working practices applied within your central authority or in its dealings with other central authorities
The Co-operation we receive varies considerably depending on which Central Authority we are dealing with. We have very good working relationships with all Member States but we have experienced some delay in receiving responses to our requests for information. We still find communication by email, although not essential, to be the most efficient way of communicating and in incoming cases find the practice of direct communication between client and lawyer reduces delay in abduction cases and Article 55 requests.
c)Have you experienced any specific language or communication-related problems?
To date we have encountered no significant problems with language. However there has been an increase in demand for translated documents some of which have been requested for court hearings within a very short time frame. The Central Authority has also facilitated more telephone conferencing between the jurisdictions. We now have the benefit of providing an interpreter by phone through our service provider thebigword - Translation, Interpreting and Technology which is a useful resource dealing with other jurisdictions. We have also been able to facilitate video conferencing between the international jurisdictions.
d)Have you experienced any particular problems in relation to working methods and if yes, how in your view these problems could be resolved?
No we have had no particular problems.
3.General functions (Article 54)
a)Describe any action taken to inform on national laws and procedures
We continue to provide relevant legislation on parental responsibility to assist each case as necessary. Our Court Rules are now available online for other jurisdictions to peruse.
b)Describe any action taken to strengthen cooperation with other central authorities
We continue to access each case and correspond with the receiving central authority using their preferred method of communication; ensuring information is requested, sought and relayed, using the translation resources available to us, in a timely manner. A member of the Northern Ireland Central Authority attended the 7th meeting of the Central Authorities in Dublin in June 2013 to promote communication and cooperation between the Central Authorities, which proved very informative.
c)Have any measures been taken in your MemberState to improve the application of the Regulation?
A review of the information available to the public on our website has been carried out to improve the application of the Regulation and in particular to assist the public in understanding of the working of the Regulation.
4.Cooperation on cases specific to parental responsibility (Article 55)
a)Please describe any relevant action taken to:
i.)Collect and exchange information
We continue to use a range of e-mail, fax, telephone and corresponding by letter to exchange information, depending on the personal preferences of the individual receiving central authority. Applications received under Article 55 have been in respect of Article 55(a) (i) collect and exchange information on the situation of the child. We now use a secure email (CJSM) for the transmission of this information between the Health and Social Services Trusts in this jurisdiction. An email is deemed secure if it is transmitted between the Criminal Justice Secure eMail (CJSM) accounts that is from one CJSM email address to another.
ii.)Provide information and assistance to holders of parental responsibility
We as the Northern Ireland central authority continue to provide current legislation and information on parental responsibility to assist those involved in individual cases.
iii.)Facilitate court-to-court communication
We have organised numerous telephone conference calls to facilitate court hearings in many cases. We have also facilitated direct correspondence and contact between the judiciary in different jurisdictions. The official designation of a liaison judge, designated for Northern Ireland ensures a live point of contact for the Convention and Article 15 & 55 applications. It has enabled expertise to be built through experience and facilitates judicial liaison.
iv.)Provide information and assistance needed by courts in the context of Article 56
We have and continue to provide information and assistance as requested by the Central Authorities and by the courts for individual cases. In 2013 we received only 1 incoming Article 56 application. We continue to liaise with competent authorities, usually the regional Health and Social Services Trusts in Northern Ireland to obtain the consent to the placement.
v.)Facilitate agreement between holders of parental responsibility through mediation and facilitate cross-border cooperation to this end
There has been an increase in the use of mediation. Northern Ireland has specific legislation on cross-border mediation in family matters. We have accredited providers such as Reunite International (a charity which receives funding from the Ministry of Justice in London and the UK’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs) which undertakes mediation to run concurrently with the return proceedings. Other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) schemes are also used by the court. Mediation is available at all stages of an application.
b)Have you experienced any particular problems in relation to any of the above matters and ifyes, how in your view these problems could be resolved?
No particular problems.
5.Observations on the application of the Regulation
To the extent not already covered by points 1. to 4. above, please comment on the application of the Regulation in your MemberState and the European Union as a whole
All cases are dealt with by the same central authority mechanisms regardless of whether they are Hague or Brussels IIa applications.
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