Council Regulation (EC) No 4/2009Show full title

CHAPTER I SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS

Article 1 Scope of application

1. This Regulation shall apply to maintenance obligations arising from a family relationship, parentage, marriage or affinity.

2. In this Regulation, the term ‘Member State’ shall mean Member States to which this Regulation applies.

Article 2 Definitions

1. For the purposes of this Regulation:

1.

the term ‘decision’ shall mean a decision in matters relating to maintenance obligations given by a court of a Member State, whatever the decision may be called, including a decree, order, judgment or writ of execution, as well as a decision by an officer of the court determining the costs or expenses. For the purposes of Chapters VII and VIII, the term ‘decision’ shall also mean a decision in matters relating to maintenance obligations given in a third State;

2.

the term ‘court settlement’ shall mean a settlement in matters relating to maintenance obligations which has been approved by a court or concluded before a court in the course of proceedings;

3.

the term ‘authentic instrument’ shall mean:

(a)

a document in matters relating to maintenance obligations which has been formally drawn up or registered as an authentic instrument in the Member State of origin and the authenticity of which:

(i)

relates to the signature and the content of the instrument, and

(ii)

has been established by a public authority or other authority empowered for that purpose; or,

(b)

an arrangement relating to maintenance obligations concluded with administrative authorities of the Member State of origin or authenticated by them;

4.

the term ‘Member State of origin’ shall mean the Member State in which, as the case may be, the decision has been given, the court settlement has been approved or concluded, or the authentic instrument has been established;

5.

the term ‘Member State of enforcement’ shall mean the Member State in which the enforcement of the decision, the court settlement or the authentic instrument is sought;

6.

the term ‘requesting Member State’ shall mean the Member State whose Central Authority transmits an application pursuant to Chapter VII;

7.

the term ‘requested Member State’ shall mean the Member State whose Central Authority receives an application pursuant to Chapter VII;

8.

the term ‘2007 Hague Convention Contracting State’ shall mean a State which is a contracting party to the Hague Convention of 23 November 2007 on the International Recovery of Child Support and other Forms of Family Maintenance (hereinafter referred to as the 2007 Hague Convention) to the extent that the said Convention applies between the Community and that State;

9.

the term ‘court of origin’ shall mean the court which has given the decision to be enforced;

10.

the term ‘creditor’ shall mean any individual to whom maintenance is owed or is alleged to be owed;

11.

the term ‘debtor’ shall mean any individual who owes or who is alleged to owe maintenance.

2. For the purposes of this Regulation, the term ‘court’ shall include administrative authorities of the Member States with competence in matters relating to maintenance obligations provided that such authorities offer guarantees with regard to impartiality and the right of all parties to be heard and provided that their decisions under the law of the Member State where they are established:

(i)

may be made the subject of an appeal to or review by a judicial authority; and

(ii)

have a similar force and effect as a decision of a judicial authority on the same matter.

These administrative authorities shall be listed in Annex X. That Annex shall be established and amended in accordance with the management procedure referred to in Article 73(2) at the request of the Member State in which the administrative authority concerned is established.

3. For the purposes of Articles 3, 4 and 6, the concept of ‘domicile’ shall replace that of ‘nationality’ in those Member States which use this concept as a connecting factor in family matters.

For the purposes of Article 6, parties which have their ‘domicile’ in different territorial units of the same Member State shall be deemed to have their common ‘domicile’ in that Member State.