Regulation 2019/1111 - Jurisdiction, the recognition and enforcement of decisions in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, and on international child abduction (recast) - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 178/1

On 15 April 2014, the Commission adopted a report on the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 (3). The report concluded that Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 is a well-functioning instrument that has brought important benefits to citizens, but that the existing rules could be improved. A number of amendments are to be made to that Regulation. In the interests of clarity, that Regulation should be recast.

This Regulation establishes uniform jurisdiction rules for divorce, legal separation and marriage annulment as well as for disputes about parental responsibility with an international element. It facilitates the circulation of decisions, as well as of authentic instruments and certain agreements, in the Union by laying down provisions on their recognition and enforcement in other Member States. Moreover, this Regulation clarifies the child's right to be provided with an opportunity to express his or her views in proceedings to which he or she is subject and also contains provisions complementing the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction ('the 1980 Hague Convention') in relations between Member States. Therefore, this Regulation should help to strengthen legal certainty and increase flexibility, to ensure that access to court proceedings is improved and to ensure that such proceedings are made more efficient.

The smooth and correct functioning of a Union area of justice with respect for the Member States' different legal systems and traditions is vital for the Union. In that regard, mutual trust in one another's justice systems should be further enhanced. The Union has set itself the objective of creating, maintaining and developing an area of freedom, security and justice, in which the free movement of persons and access to justice are ensured. With a view to implementing that objective, the rights of persons, in particular children, in legal procedures should be reinforced in order to facilitate the cooperation of judicial and administrative authorities and the enforcement of decisions in family law matters with cross-border implications. The mutual recognition of decisions in civil matters should be enhanced, access to justice should be simplified and exchanges of information between the authorities of the Member States should be improved.

To this end, the Union is to adopt, among others, measures in the field of judicial cooperation in civil matters having cross-border implications, particularly when necessary for the proper functioning of the internal market. The term 'civil matters' should be interpreted autonomously, in accordance with the established case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union ('the Court of Justice'). It should be regarded as an independent concept to be interpreted by referring, first, to the objectives and scheme of this Regulation and, second, to the general principles which stem from the corpus of the national legal systems. The term 'civil matters' should therefore be interpreted as capable of extending...