The 2024 Meeting of the Council on General Affairs and Policy of the HCCH

The Conclusions and Decisions of the latest annual meeting of the Council on General Affairs and Policy of theHague Conference on Private International Law, which was held from 5 to 8 March 2024, have recently been published.

The most significant developments arising from the document include the following.

Legislative Work

The Council noted the progress made in the framework of the on-going Parentage / Surrogacy and Jurisdiction projects, and made provision for the continuation of both. The current state of affairs of the projects is described, respectively, in an Aide-mémoire prepared by the Chair of the Working Group on Parentage / Surrogacy, and in a Report of the Chair of the Working Group on Jurisdiction, which includes a revised draft of the provisions on parallel proceedings, prepared for future discussion.

New legislative projects have also been discussed. To begin with, an Experts’ Group has been established to study the issues relating to jurisdiction and applicable law that surround the cross-border use and transfer of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), based on exploratory work reflected in a rich report prepared by the Permanent Bureau and, generally, the preparatory work carried over the last few years.

Secondly, the Council asked the Permanent Bureau to continue to monitor developments in the digital economy with respect to digital platforms, artificial intelligence and automated contracting, and immersive technologies, including in partnership with UNCITRAL.

While expressing a concern for avoiding fragmentation among legal instruments developed by different organisations on related matters (including the work of UNIDROIT on digital assets), the Council also mandated the Permanent Bureau to study the private international law issues relating to digital tokens. 

The Council mandated the Permanent Bureau to monitor developments of the private international law aspects of voluntary carbon markets, having regard to exploratory work summarized in a report by the Permanent Bureau itself.

Post-Convention Work

The Council endorsed the Conclusions and Recommendations of the Eighth Meeting of the Special Commission on the 1980 Child Abduction and 1996 Child Protection Conventions, and welcomed preparations for the upcoming meeting of the SC on the 1965 Service, 1970 Evidence and 1980 Access to Justice Conventions.

In the area of family and child protection law, the Council invited the Permanent to convene further meetings of the Working Group on the Financial Aspects of Intercountry Adoption (the latest report on the activities of the Group is found here). The creation of two Working Groups in relation to the 1996 Child Protection Convention was also decided. One Group will complete the 1996 Country Profile and progress work on the draft Cooperation Request Recommended Model Form, while the other will focus on the operation of Article 33 of the Convention, according to which the authorities of a Contracting State, where they contemplate the placement of a child in a foster family or institutional care, and such placement is to take place in another Contracting State, must first consult with the Central Authority or other competent authority of the latter State.

Regarding transnational litigation, the Council approved the establishment of Working Groups charged with reviewing and refining updates to the Handbooks and Country Profiles relevant to the 1965 Service and 1970 Evidence Conventions, respectively.

As to international commercial, digital, and financial law, the Council mandated the Permanent Bureau to continue to study digital developments in respect of securities markets; the interpretation of analogous institutions for the purpose of Article 2 of the 1985 Trusts Convention; and the feasibility, desirability, and necessity of developing guidance on applicable law in international contracts providing protection to weaker parties.