Policy background Provision for the 1996, 2005 and 2007 Hague Conventions
The Act provides a clear approach to the domestic implementation of the 1996, 2005 and 2007 Hague Conventions at the end of the transition period by simply stating that their provisions have the force of law in the UK.
	The 1996 Hague Convention is a multilateral treaty aimed at improving the protection of children. It provides a framework for the resolution of issues such as residence of, and contact with, children where parents have separated and live in different countries; and establishes co-operation between national authorities involved in protecting children. This is important because it provides legal certainty that decisions relating to children (e.g. contact/ access arrangements) made in one country will be respected in others, so that people do not have to incur the expense and trouble of bringing fresh proceedings when they move to another country.
	The 2005 Hague Convention is a multilateral treaty aimed at ensuring the effectiveness of exclusive choice of court agreements between parties to international commercial transactions. Where a court (in a state that is a contracting party to the Convention) has been designated by a choice of court agreement to deal with disputes arising under that agreement, the Convention requires that court to hear any such dispute (and other courts to decline to do so), and requires any judgment rendered by the chosen court to be recognised and enforced in the courts of all other contracting party States, as necessary. These "choice of court" clauses are common in high value commercial contracts. The Convention provides greater legal certainty for parties to cross- border commercial transactions and maintains UK jurisdictions as an attractive choice for the resolution of disputes in commercial contracts. For example, for the small UK business that has a contract with a supplier based in another state (which is a party to the 2005 Hague Convention) with whom it has agreed that any disputes should be resolved in the UK courts, it provides certainty that the supplier will not renege on that dispute resolution agreement and that any resulting judgment can be recognised and enforced in the supplier’s home state. This reduces the length and cost of litigation in commercial cases which have a cross-border element.
	The 2007 Hague Convention is a multilateral treaty which provides rules for the international recovery of child support and other forms of family maintenance, and for administrative cooperation between contracting States. It provides rules for recognition and enforcement of maintenance decisions across borders and for administrative cooperation between national authorities on the processing of maintenance claims. This makes it easier, for example, for one parent to put in place enforceable child maintenance obligations where the other parent lives abroad. This is important because having such a framework in place for maintenance matters helps reduce financial hardship for the children of UK resident parents.
	As explained in paragraph 8, these international agreements on PIL have continued to apply to the UK for the duration of the transition period. At the end of the transition period, if no action had been taken, the UK would no longer be bound by the 2005 and 2007 Hague Conventions in respect of which the EU is the contracting party. However, during September 2020, the UK took the necessary steps to join these two conventions as an independent party in its own right. This included depositing the necessary instruments of accession and ratification with the depositary. Parliamentary scrutiny of these Conventions prior to accession and ratification took place under the CRAG Act 2010 during November and December 2018 (as part of the preparations for leaving the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement being in place) including the text of the declarations and reservation to those Conventions which the UK has now made. The Government intends to use the power in section 2 of the Act to amend the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 to insert the text of the declarations and reservation in new Schedules to that Act, for reference purposes.
	The UK has participated in both the 2005 and 2007 Hague Conventions since 2015 and 2014 respectively, with the EU being the contracting party. The UK has been a contracting party to the 1996 Hague Convention since 2012, however, the EU authorised its member states, including the UK at that time, to sign and ratify the 1996 Hague Convention because the EU had competence in relation to some of its provisions, but was unable itself to become a contracting party under the terms of the Convention. The Act re-implements in domestic law these three existing international agreements on PIL to which the UK will be an independent party in its own right at the end of the transition period.
	Prior to the UK’s departure from the EU, implementation of these Conventions relied primarily on section 2(1) of the European Communities Act (ECA) 1972 and the principle of direct effect of EU law under which provisions of EU treaties which created legal rights or obligations were directly applicable in the national law of EU member states, provided they met the necessary conditions including that they were sufficiently clear and unconditional. This meant that the Convention provisions did not need to be replicated in domestic law in order to have legal effect. All three Hague Conventions constituted EU treaties under section 1 of the ECA 1972. There were also additional regulations made under section 2(2) of that Act to give further effect to the Conventions.
	During the transition period, the current implementation in domestic law of these Conventions via the ECA 1972 is saved by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020. However, this Act provides a new approach to domestic implementation which ensures that these Conventions will continue to operate effectively at the end of the transition period in a way which is clearer for users of them.
	Whilst section 4 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (as amended by the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020) saves directly effective treaty rights in domestic law after the end of the transition period, the Government considers it would be clearer for users of the Conventions for legal effect to be given to their provisions in UK domestic law by expressly providing for this in primary legislation. This means that the UK will not have to continue relying on the EU concept of direct effect and the savings provisions for directly effective treaty rights in section 4 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 after the end of the transition period. The Government is therefore implementing the Convention provisions directly on the face of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 via the Act using an approach commonly used in domestic legislation for implementing non-EU treaties. Other consequential amendments are being made to ensure an effectively functioning statute book. The additional regulations made under section 2(2) of the ECA 1972 which gave further effect to the Hague Conventions will also continue to apply in domestic law after the end of the transition period (these are saved by section 2 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (as amended by the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020)).
	The Act will underpin the UK’s future ability to meet its international treaty obligations by ensuring that there continues to be domestic implementing legislation in place relating to the 1996, 2005 and 2007 Hague Conventions at the end of the transition period, and that the legislation is clear for all users to understand.