Brexit and family law/children's rights

Subject: Brexit and family law/children's rights

Regulations 1215/2012 (the Brussels IIa Regulation) and 4/2009 (the Maintenance Regulation), taken together, constitute a means of providing order and legal certainty for a Member State in which divorce proceedings are initiated.

These regulations have helped put an end to expensive and often lengthy parallel litigation in two Member States, and have assisted the implementation of judgments in Member States with expansive reciprocity. Further to this, EU legislation provides safeguards for children against child trafficking, child abduction, forced migration, sexual exploitation and abuse and criminal proceedings, as well as online/off-line consumer protection.

Does the Commission agree that the efficacy of all the above legislation depends on cross-border cooperation, mutual trust and reciprocity between Member States?

In light of Brexit, can the Commission affirm that the North of Ireland will not lose out on the legislative safeguards for children mentioned above?

With regards to Clause 3 of the British Withdrawal Bill, has the Commission assessed whether the ‘backstop’ agreement on Ireland will require the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the North of Ireland to be retained, so as to prevent regulatory divergence after ‘exit day’?

Answer given by President Juncker on behalf of the European Commission (31 July 2018)

The effective implementation of the obligations entered into by Member States in the two regulations the Honourable Member refers to indeed relies on cross-border cooperation, mutual trust and reciprocity between Member States.

As regards judicial cooperation in civil matters, the draft Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland to the draft EU-United Kingdom withdrawal agreement does not address this matter. Rather, this matter will be governed by the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom. In this context, it is recalled that international conventions are in place that address the issues raised by the Honourable Member.

As regards the Court of Justice of the European Union, the draft Protocol provides for its jurisdiction in relation to the Common Regulatory Area which entails the application of Union law in Northern Ireland.

The Withdrawal Agreement and its Protocols will become applicable only once the Withdrawal Agreement has been concluded and ratified.