{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/adoptions-with-a-foreign-element-special-restrictions-on-adoptions-from-abroad-regulations-2008/regulation-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/adoptions-with-a-foreign-element-special-restrictions-on-adoptions-from-abroad-regulations-2008/regulation-2.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2008/1807",
  "legislation_title": "The Adoptions with a Foreign Element (Special Restrictions on Adoptions from Abroad) Regulations 2008",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/adoptions-with-a-foreign-element-special-restrictions-on-adoptions-from-abroad-regulations-2008",
  "path": "regulation/2",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "Interpretation",
  "text": "(1) In these Regulations—\n“the Act” means the Children and Adoption Act 2006;\n“the relevant authority” means the appropriate authority or, in relation to Northern Ireland, in a case which is not a Convention case, the Secretary of State;\n“a request” means a request made in writing by prospective adopters that the appropriate authority should take any step as mentioned in section 11(1) of the Act despite an order having been made under section 9(4) of the Act in relation to the State of origin; and\n“the State of origin” means the country or territory from which the prospective adopters wish to bring a child into the United Kingdom.\n(2) For the purposes of these Regulations, the relevant authority is “satisfied that the case is exceptional” if that authority is satisfied that the appropriate authority should take any step as mentioned in section 11(1) of the Act despite an order having been made under section 9(4) of the Act in relation to the State of origin.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "“The appropriate authority” is defined in section 11(4) of the Children and Adoption Act 2006 (“the Act”) as meaning, in a Convention case, the Central Authority in relation to England, to Wales or to Northern Ireland as the case may be (i.e. the Secretary of State, the Welsh Ministers and the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland respectively) and, in a non-Convention case, in relation to England and Wales, the Secretary of State and, in relation to Northern Ireland, the Secretary of State for the purposes of steps which he takes and the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland for the purposes of steps which it takes."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f2",
      "text": "“Convention case” is defined in section 11(4) of the Act as meaning a case where the child is intended to be adopted in accordance with the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption, concluded at The Hague on 29th May 1993."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1807/regulation/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T03:28:00.190399+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}