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

6.  For section 6 there shall be substituted–

(1) This section applies to a maintenance order made whether before, on or after 5th April 1993 by a competent court in a Hague Convention country.

(2) Where a certified copy of an order to which this section applies is received by the Lord Chancellor or the Secretary of State from a Hague Convention country, and it appears to him that the payer under the order is residing in the United Kingdom, he shall send the copy of the order and the accompanying documents to the prescribed officer of the appropriate court.

(3) Where the prescribed officer of the appropriate court receives from the Lord Chancellor or the Secretary of State a certified copy of an order to which this section applies, he shall, subject to the following subsections, register the order in the prescribed manner in that court.

(4) Before registering an order under this section an officer of a court shall take such steps as he thinks fit for the purpose of ascertaining whether the payer under the order is residing within the jurisdiction of the court, and if after taking those steps he is satisfied that the payer is not so residing he shall return the certified copy of the order and the accompanying documents to the Lord Chancellor or the Secretary of State, as the case may be, with a statement giving such information as he possesses as to the whereabouts of the payer.

(5) (a) The prescribed officer of the appropriate court may refuse to authorise the registration of the order if the court in the Hague Convention country by or before which the order was made did not have jurisdiction to make the order; and for these purposes a court in a Hague Convention country shall be considered to have jurisdiction if–

(i) either the payer or the payee had his habitual residence in the Hague Convention country at the time when the proceedings were instituted; or

(ii) the payer and the payee were nationals of that country at that time; or

(iii) the respondent in those proceedings had submitted to the jurisdiction of the court, either expressly or by defending on the merits of the case without objecting to the jurisdiction; or

(iv) in the case of an order made by reason of a divorce or a legal separation or a declaration that a marriage is void or annulled, the court is recognised by the law of the part of the United Kingdom in which enforcement is sought as having jurisdiction to make the order.

(b) In deciding whether a court in a Hague Convention country had jurisdiction to make an order the prescribed officer shall be bound by any finding of fact on which the court based its jurisdiction.

(6) The prescribed officer of the appropriate court may refuse to authorise the registration of the order–

(a) if such registration is manifestly contrary to public policy;

(b) if the order was obtained by fraud in connection with a matter of procedure;

(c) if proceedings between the same parties and having the same purpose are pending before a court in the same part of the United Kingdom and those proceedings were the first to be instituted; or

(d) if the order is incompatible with an order made in proceedings between the same parties and having the same purpose, either in the United Kingdom or in another country, provided that the latter order itself fulfils the conditions necessary for its registration and enforcement under this Part of this Act.

(7) Without prejudice to subsection (6) above, if the payer did not appear in the proceedings in the Hague Convention country in which the order was made, the prescribed officer of the appropriate court shall refuse to authorise the registration of the order unless notice of the institution of the proceedings, including notice of the substance of the claim, was served on the payer in accordance with the law of that Hague Convention country and if, having regard to the circumstances, the payer had sufficient time to enable him to defend the proceedings.

(8) If the order is registered under subsection (3) above, the prescribed officer of the appropriate court shall serve notice in a prescribed form on the payer and give notice to the payee that the order has been registered.

(9) The payer may, before the end of the period of one calendar month beginning with the date of service of the said notice, appeal to the court in which the order is registered to set aside the registration of the order on one of the grounds set out in paragraphs (5), (6) and (7) above.

(10) If the payer appeals to the court in which the order is registered to set aside the registration of the order, the prescribed officer of the court shall give notice to the payee of the appeal and of the date of the hearing of the appeal.

(11) If the prescribed officer refuses to register the order, he shall give notice to the payee in a prescribed form that registration has been refused.

(12) A payee to whom notice has been given by the prescribed officer of any court under subsection (11) above may, before the end of the period of one calendar month beginning with the date when notice was given, appeal to that court against the refusal to register the order.

(13) If the payee appeals to the court against the refusal to register the order, the prescribed officer of the court shall give notice to the payer of the appeal and of the date of the hearing of the appeal.

(14) In the application of this section to Scotland–

(a) in subsection (8), for the words “serve notice in a prescribed form on” there shall be substituted the words “intimate to in the prescribed manner”;

(b) in subsection (9), for the words “service of the said notice” there shall be substituted the words “the said intimation”;

(c) in subsections (9), (10), (12) and (13), for any reference to an appeal there shall be substituted a reference to an application and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly; and

(d) in subsection (11), for the words “in a prescribed form” there shall be substituted the words “in the prescribed manner”.

(15) In the application of this section to Northern Ireland, in subsection (5), for the word “respondent” there shall be substituted “defendant”.”.