Commentary on Sections Part 1 – Adoption Chapter 6 – Adoptions with a Foreign Element
215.The provisions in this Chapter incorporate many of the measures of the Adoption (Intercountry Aspects) Act 1999 and extend those measures with new safeguards and penalties.
216.The Adoption (Intercountry Aspects) Act 1999 (“the 1999 Act”) applies to England and Wales and to Scotland and amends both the Adoption Act 1976 and the Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978.  It makes provision to regulate intercountry adoption, enables (together with equivalent Northern Ireland legislation) the United Kingdom to ratify the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption and introduces sanctions against those failing to follow the proper procedures for bringing children into the United Kingdom. The 1999 Act also clarifies that local authorities have a duty to provide, or arrange to provide, an intercountry adoption service and provides that children who are the subject of a Convention adoption will receive British nationality automatically.
217.The 1999 Act will largely be repealed for England and Wales when this Act is implemented, as the majority of the provisions amend the Adoption Act 1976 and have been incorporated into this Act.  Sections 1 (power to make regulations giving effect to the Convention), 2 (Central Authorities and accredited bodies) and 7 (amendments to the British Nationality Act 1981) and Schedule 1 (which sets out the text of the Convention so far as material) of the 1999 Act will remain.  Section 144(1) defines a Convention adoption order as an adoption order which is made by virtue of regulations made under section 1 of the 1999 Act. The regulations which are to be made under section 1 of the 1999 Act will apply, with or without modification, the provisions of this Act, for example the conditions which must be satisfied before an application for a Convention adoption order may be made. Convention adoptions made in a country outside the British Islands are recognised, see section 66(1).