The Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (Hague Convention Countries) Order 1993

• (4) On the transfer of an order under subsection (3) above the prescribed officer of the court to which it is transferred shall, subject to subsection (6) below, register the order in the prescribed manner in that court.

• (5) Where the certified copy of an order is received by the Lord Chancellor under this section and it appears to him that the payer under the order is still residing in the United Kingdom, he shall transfer the order to the appropriate court by sending the certified copy of the order together with the related documents to the prescribed officer of the appropriate court and, subject to subsection (6) below, that officer shall register the order in the prescribed manner in that court.

• (6) Before registering an order in pursuance of subsection (4) or (5) above an officer of a court shall take such steps as he thinks fit for the purpose of ascertaining whether the payer is so residing, and if after taking those steps he is satisfied that the payer is not residing within the jurisdiction of the court he shall send the certified copy of the order to the Lord Chancellor.

• (7) The officer of a court who is required by any of the foregoing provisions of this section to send to the Lord Chancellor or to the prescribed officer of another court the certified copy of an order shall send with that copy–

• (a) a certificate of arrears signed by him;

• (b) a statement giving such information as he possesses as to the whereabouts of the payer; and

• (c) any relevant documents in his possession relating to the case.

• (8) In the application of this section to Scotland–

• (a) in subsection (2), for the words “within the jurisdiction of that court” there shall be substituted the words “in Scotland”;

• (b) subsections (3) and (4) shall be omitted; and

• (c) for the words “Lord Chancellor”, in each place where they occur, there shall be substituted the words “Secretary of State”.

Steps to be taken by Lord Chancellor or Secretary of State where payer under certain orders is not residing in the United Kingdom.

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• (1) If it appears to the Lord Chancellor or the Secretary of State that the payer under a maintenance order, a certified copy of which has been received by him from a Hague Convention country, is not residing in the United Kingdom or, in the case of an order which subsequently became a registered order, has ceased to reside therein, he shall send to the appropriate authority in that country–

• (a) the certified copy of the order in question and a certified copy of any order varying that order;

• (b) if the order has at any time been a registered order, a certificate of arrears signed by the prescribed officer;

• (c) a statement giving such information as the Lord Chancellor or the Secretary of State possesses as to the whereabouts of the payer; and

• (d) any other relevant documents in his possession relating to the case.

Appeals.

Appeals

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Where in pursuance of section 9 above a registering court makes or refuses to make an order varying a registered order, the payer or the payee under the registered order shall have the like right of appeal (if any) from the order of variation or from the refusal to make it as he would have if the registered order had been made by the registering court.

Evidence

Admissibility of evidence given in Hague Convention country.

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• (1) A statement contained in–

• (a) a document, duly authenticated, which purports to set out or summarise evidence given in proceedings in a court in a Hague Convention country; or

• (b) a document, duly authenticated, which purports to set out or summarise evidence taken in that country for the purpose of proceedings in a court in the United Kingdom under this Part of this Act, whether in response to a request made by such a court or otherwise; or

• (c) a document, duly authenticated, which purports to have been received in evidence in proceedings in a court in that country or to be a copy of a document so received; or

• (d) a document purporting to be signed by a judicial officer, official or other competent person in a Hague Convention country which establishes that certain documents were served on a person,

shall in any proceedings in a court in the United Kingdom relating to a maintenance order to which this Part of this Act applies be admissible as evidence of any fact stated therein to the same extent as oral evidence of that fact is admissible in those proceedings.

• (2) A document purporting to set out or summarise evidence given as mentioned in subsection (1)(a) above, or taken as mentioned in subsection (1)(b) above, shall be deemed to be duly authenticated for the purposes of that subsection if the document purports to be certified by the judicial officer or other person before whom the evidence was given, or, as the case may be, by whom it was taken, to be the original document containing or recording, or, as the case may be, summarising, that evidence or a true copy of that document.

• (3) A document purporting to have been received in evidence as mentioned in subsection (1)(c) above, or to be a copy of a document so received, shall be deemed to be duly authenticated for the purposes of that subsection if the document purports to be certified by a judge or officer of the court in question to have been, or to be a true copy of a document which has been, so received.

• (4) It shall not be necessary in any such proceedings to prove the signature or official position of the person appearing to have given such a certificate.

• (5) Nothing in this section shall prejudice the admission in evidence of any document which is admissible in evidence apart from this section.

Obtaining of evidence needed for purpose of certain proceedings.

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• (1) Where for the purpose of any proceedings in a court in a Hague Convention country relating to a maintenance order to which this Part of this Act applies a request is made by or on behalf of that court for the taking in the United Kingdom of the evidence of a person residing therein relating to matters specified in the request, such court in the United Kingdom as may be prescribed shall have power to take that evidence and, after giving notice of the time and place at which the evidence is to be taken to such persons and in such manner as it thinks fit, shall take the evidence in such manner as may be prescribed.

Evidence taken in compliance with such a request shall be sent by the prescribed officer of the court–

• (a) in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, to the Lord Chancellor, or

• (b) in Scotland, to the Secretary of State,

for transmission to the appropriate authority in the Hague Convention country.

• (2) Where any person, not being the payer or the payee under the maintenance order to which the proceedings in question relate, is required by virtue of this section to give evidence before a court in the United Kingdom, the court may order that there shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament such sums as appear to the court reasonably sufficient to compensate that person for the expense, trouble or loss of time properly incurred in or incidental to his attendance.

• (3) Articles 118(1), (3) and (4), 119 and 120 of the Magistrates’ Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (which provide for compelling the attendance of witnesses, etc.) shall apply in relation to a magistrates' court in Northern Ireland having power under subsection (1) above to take the evidence of any person as if the proceedings in the court in a Hague Convention country for the purpose of which a request for the taking of the evidence has been made were proceedings in the magistrates' court and had been begun by complaint.

• (4) Paragraphs 71 and 73 of Schedule 1 to the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1907⁴(which provide for the citation of witnesses, etc.) shall apply in relation to a sheriff having power under subsection (1) above to take the evidence of any person as if the proceedings in the court in a Hague Convention country for the purpose of which a request for the taking of the evidence has been made were proceedings in the sheriff court.

• (5) A court in–

• (a) England and Wales or Northern Ireland may for the purpose of any proceedings in that court under this Part of this Act relating to a maintenance order to which this Part of this Act applies send to the Lord Chancellor, or

• (b) Scotland may for the purpose of such proceedings in that court relating to such an action, send to the Secretary of State,

for transmission to the appropriate authority in a Hague Convention country a request for a court in a Hague Convention country to take or provide evidence relating to such matters as may be specified in the request.

• (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Order, etc. made in Hague Convention country need not be proved.

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For the purposes of this Part of this Act, unless the contrary is shown–

• (a) any order made by a court in a Hague Convention country purporting to bear the seal of that court or to be signed by any person in his capacity as a judge or officer of the court, shall be deemed without further proof to have been duly sealed or, as the case may be, to have been signed by that person;

• (b) the person by whom the order was signed shall be deemed without further proof to have been a judge or officer, as the case may be, of that court when he signed it and, in the case of an officer, to have been authorised to sign it; and

• (c) a document purporting to be a certified copy of an order made by a court in a Hague Convention country shall be deemed without further proof to be such a copy.

Supplemental

Payment of sums under orders made in Hague Convention countries: conversion of currency.

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• (1) Payment of sums due under a registered order shall, while the order is registered in a court in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, be made in such manner and to such person as may be prescribed.

• (2) Where the sums required to be paid under a registered order are expressed in a currency other than the currency of the United Kingdom, then, as from the relevant date, the order shall be treated as if it were an order requiring the payment of such sums in the currency of the United Kingdom as, on the basis of the rate of exchange prevailing at that date, are equivalent to the sums so required to be paid.

• (3) Where the sum specified in any statement, being a statement of the amount of any arrears due under a maintenance order made by a court in a Hague Convention country, is expressed in a currency other than the currency of the United Kingdom, that sum shall be deemed to be such sum in the currency of the United Kingdom as, on the basis of the rate of exchange prevailing at the relevant date, is equivalent to the sum so specified.

• (4) For the purposes of this section a written certificate purporting to be signed by an officer of any bank in the United Kingdom certifying that a specified rate of exchange prevailed between currencies at a specified date and that at such a rate a specified sum in the currency of the United Kingdom is equivalent to a specified sum in another specified currency shall be evidence of the rate of exchange so prevailing on that date and of the equivalent sums in terms of the respective currencies.

• (5) In this section “the relevant date” means–

• (a) in relation to a registered order or to a statement of arrears due under a maintenance order made by a court in a Hague Convention country, the date on which the order first becomes a registered order;

• (b) in relation to a registered order which has been varied, the date on which the last order varying that order is registered in the registering court.

• (6) In the application of this section to Scotland–

• (a) subsection (1) shall not apply;

• (b) in subsection (4), for the word “evidence” there shall be substituted the words “sufficient evidence”.

Proceedings in magistrates' courts.

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• (4) Anything authorised or required by this Part of this Act to be done by, to or before the magistrates' court in Northern Ireland by, to or before which any other thing was done may be done by, to or before any magistrates' court ... acting for the same petty sessions district as that court.

• (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (5A) Where the respondent to an application for the variation or revocation of—

• (a) a maintenance order made by the family court, being an order to which section 5 of this Act applies; or

• (b) a registered order which is registered in the family court,

is residing in a Hague Convention country, the family court shall have jurisdiction to hear the application (where it would not have such jurisdiction apart from this subsection) if it would have had jurisdiction to hear it had the respondent been habitually resident in England and Wales.

• (6) A magistrates' court in Northern Ireland has jurisdiction to hear a complaint for the variation or revocation—

• (a) of a maintenance order made by such a court, and to which section 5 of this Act applies, or

• (b) to hear a complaint for the variation of a registered order which is registered in that court,

if the defendant to the complaint is residing in a Hague Convention country and if the court would have had jurisdiction to hear the complaint had the defendant been residing in Northern Ireland and been served with a summons to appear before the court to answer the complaint.

• (7) Where the respondent to an application—

• (a) for the variation or revocation of a maintenance order made by a court, and to which section 5 of this Act applies; or

• (b) for the variation of a registered order registered in a court, does not appear at the time and place appointed for the hearing on the application, but the court is satisfied that the respondent is residing in a Hague Convention country and the requirements of section 5(4), (6) or (7) or section 9(3), as the case may be, have been complied with, the court may proceed to hear and determine the application at the time and place appointed for the hearing or for any adjourned hearing as if the respondent had appeared at that time and place.

• (7A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Magistrates' courts rules.

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• (A1) Rules of court may make provision with respect to the matters that would be mentioned in any of paragraphs (b), (c) and (f) of subsection (1) as if references in those paragraphs to a magistrates’ court, or to magistrates’ courts, were references to the family court.

• (1) The matters referred to in subsections (A1) and (2) are—

• (a) the circumstances in which anything authorised or required by this Part of this Act to be done by, to or before a magistrates' court acting in a particular petty sessions district or by, to or before an officer of that court may be done by, to or before a magistrates' court acting in such other petty sessions district as the rules may provide or by, to or before an officer of that court;

• (b) the orders made, or other things done, by a magistrates' court, or an officer of such a court, under this Part of this Act, or by a court in a Hague Convention country, notice of which is to be given to such persons as the rules may provide and the manner in which such notice shall be given;

• (c) the cases and manner in which courts in Hague Convention countries are to be informed of orders made, or other things done, by a magistrates' court under this Part of this Act;

• (d) the cases and manner in which a justices' clerk may take evidence needed for the purpose of proceedings in court in a Hague Convention country relating to a maintenance order to which this Part of this Act applies;

• (f) the circumstances and manner in which magistrates' courts may for the purposes of this Part of this Act communicate with courts in Hague Convention countries.

• (1A) For the purpose of giving effect to this Part of this Act, rules of court may make, in relation to any proceedings brought under or by virtue of this Part of this Act, any provision not covered by subsection (A1) above which–

• (a) falls within subsection (2) of section 93 of the Children Act 1989⁵, and

• (b) may be made in relation to relevant proceedings under that section.

• (2) Rules with respect to the matters mentioned in subsection (1) above may be made in accordance with Article 13 of the Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981⁶in relation to proceedings or matters in magistrates' courts in Northern Ireland under this Part of this Act.

Rules for sheriff court.

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Without prejudice to the generality of the powers conferred on the Court of Session by section 32 of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971⁶to regulate by act of sederunt the procedure of the sheriff court, the said powers shall include power–

• (a) to prescribe the decrees granted, or other things done, by the sheriff, or an officer of the sheriff court, under this Part of this Act, or by a court in a Hague Convention country, notice of which is to be given to such persons as the act of sederunt may provide and the manner in which such notice shall be given;

• (b) to provide that evidence needed for the purpose of proceedings in a court in a Hague Convention country relating to a maintenance order to which this Part of this Act applies may, in such cases and manner as the act of sederunt may provide, be taken by a sheriff clerk or sheriff clerk depute;

• (c) to prescribe the cases and manner in which courts in a Hague Convention country are to be informed of decrees granted, or other things done, by the sheriff under this Part of this Act;

• (e) to prescribe the circumstances and manner in which the sheriff may for the purposes of this Part of this Act communicate with courts in a Hague Convention country.

Interpretation of Part I.

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• (1) In this Part of this Act unless the context otherwise requires–

• “affiliation order” means an order (however described) adjudging, finding or declaring a person to be the father of a child, whether or not it also provides for the maintenance of the child;

• “the appropriate court”—in relation to a person residing in England and Wales means the family court; andin relation to a person residing in Northern Ireland means a magistrates’ court, and in relation to a person residing in Scotland means the sheriff court, within the jurisdiction of which that person is residing;

• “certificate of arrears”, in relation to a maintenance order, means a certificate certifying that the sum specified in the certificate is to the best of the information or belief of the officer giving the certificate the amount of the arrears due under the order at the date of the certificate except any arrears that accrued before the date of the entry into force of the Hague Convention between the United Kingdom and the Hague Convention country in which the payer is residing, or, as the case may be, that to the best of his information or belief there are no arrears due thereunder at the date of the certificate;

• “certified copy”, in relation to an order of a court, means a copy of the order certified by the proper officer of the court to be a true copy;

• “court” includes any tribunal or person having power to make, confirm, enforce, vary or revoke a maintenance order and “competent court in a Hague Convention country” means a court having jurisdiction on one of the grounds specified in section 6(5)(a) above;

• “maintenance order” means an order (however described), including any settlement made by or before a competent court in a Hague Convention country, of any of the following descriptions, and in the case of an order which is not limited to the following descriptions, the part of the order which is so limited, that is to say–an order (including an affiliation order or order consequent upon an affiliation order) which provides for the periodical payment of sums of money towards the maintenance of any person, being a person whom the person liable to make payments under the order is, according to the law applied in the place where the order was made, liable to maintain;an order which has been made in Scotland, on or after the granting of a decree of divorce, for the payment of a periodical allowance by one party to the marriage to the other party;an affiliation order or order consequent upon an affiliation order, being an order which provides for the payment by a person adjudged, found or declared to be a child’s father of expenses incidental to the child’s birth or, where the child has died, of his funeral expenses; andan order within the foregoing provisions of this definition made against a payer on the application of a public body which claims reimbursement of sums of money payable under the order with respect to the payee if the reimbursement can be obtained by the public body under the law to which it is subject,and in the case of a maintenance order which has been varied (including a maintenance order which has been varied either by a court in the United Kingdom or by a competent court in a Hague Convention country whether or not the original order was made by such a court), means that order as varied:Provided that the expression “maintenance order” shall not include an order made in a Hague Convention country of a description which that country or the United Kingdom has reserved the right under Article 26 of the Hague Convention not to recognise or enforce;

• ...

• “order” means an order however described giving effect to a decision rendered by a court and, as respects Scotland, includes any interlocutor, and any decree or provision contained in an interlocutor;

• “payee”, in relation to a maintenance order, means the person entitled to the payments for which the order provides and includes a public body which has provided benefits for the payee and which is entitled ipso jure under the law to which it is subject to claim enforcement of the said order to the extent of the benefits so provided in place of the said person;

• “payer”, in relation to a maintenance order, means the person liable to make payments under the order;

• “prescribed”, in relation to a magistrates' court ... in Northern Ireland, means prescribed ... by rules made in accordance with Article 13 of the Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981, ..., and in relation to any other court means prescribed by rules of court;

• “registered order” means a maintenance order which is for the time being registered in a court in the United Kingdom under this Part of this Act and “registered” and “registration” shall be construed accordingly;

• “registering court”, in relation to a registered order, means the court in which that order is for the time being registered under this Part of this Act;

• “revoke” and “revocation” include discharge.

• (3) Any reference in this Part of this Act to the payment of money for the maintenance of a child shall be construed as including a reference to the payment of money for the child’s education.

SCHEDULE 4 — REVOCATIONS

Title	Reference
The Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (Hague Convention Countries) Order 1979	S.I. No. 1979/1317
The Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (Hague Convention Countries) (Variation) Order 1981	S.I. No. 1981/837
The Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (Hague Convention Countries) (Variation) (No. 2) Order 1981	S.I. No. 1981/1545
The Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (Hague Convention Countries) (Variation) (No. 3) Order 1981	S.I. No. 1981/1674
The Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (Hague Convention Countries) (Variation) Order 1983	S.I. No. 1983/885
The Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (Hague Convention Countries) (Variation) (No. 2) Order 1983	S.I. No. 1983/1523
The Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (Hague Convention Countries) (Variation) Order 1987	S.I. No. 1987/1282

Signed

N. H. Nicholls — Clerk of the Privy Council

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order provides for the implementation in the United Kingdom of the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Decisions Relating to Maintenance Obligations concluded at The Hague on 2nd October 1973. It replaces and revokes an earlier order (the Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (Hague Convention Countries) Order 1979 to similar effect. The differences between this Order and the 1979 Order reflect changes made in the domestic law in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland on maintenance since then, including the Children Act 1989 (c. 41), the Maintenance Enforcement Act 1991 (c. 17) and the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1992 (c. 56).

This Order applies the provisions of Part I of the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1972, as amended, in relation to the Hague Convention countries listed in Schedule 1 as they apply in relation to a reciprocating country, subject to the exceptions, adaptations and modifications set out in Schedule 2 to the Order. Accordingly, Part I of the 1972 Act is to have effect as set out in Schedule 3 to the Order.

The dates of the coming into force of the Hague Convention between the United Kingdom and the Hague Convention countries are as follows: Federal Republic of Germany (1st April 1987); Finland (1st July 1983); France (1st October 1977); Italy (1st January 1982); Luxembourg (1st June 1981); Netherlands (Kingdom in Europe and Netherlands Antilles (1st March 1981); Norway (1st July 1978); Portugal (1st August 1976); Slovakia (until 1st January 1993 part of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic) (1st August 1976); Sweden (1st May 1977); Switzerland (1st August 1976); The Czech Republic (until 1st January 1993 part of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic) (1st August 1976); and Turkey (1st November 1983).

The Order comes into force on 5th April 1993.

Footnotes

Editorial notes