Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

The Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (Hague Convention Countries) Order 1993 provides for the implementation in the United Kingdom of the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Decisions Relating to Maintenance Obligations concluded in The Hague on 2nd October 1973. The Republic of Estonia and the Republic of Poland, in accordance with Article 31 of the Convention, have deposited their instruments of accession to the Convention.

This Order–

(a)

varies Schedule 1 to the 1993 Order by adding the Republic of Estonia and the Republic of Poland to the list of Hague Convention countries to which that Order applies (article 2);

(b)

varies Schedules 2 and 3 to the 1993 Order to–

(i)

extend the period of time allowed for a payee to appeal to the court against the refusal to register an order from one month to two months; and

(ii)

remove from the courts in the United Kingdom the power to vary a maintenance order (except for the method of payment) made in a Hague Convention country and the right to recognise variations to an order made in the United Kingdom by a court in a Hague Convention country (articles 3 to 7).