Treatment of opposite-sex overseas relationships as civil partnershipsU.K.
17.—(1) The Civil Partnership Act 2004 is amended as follows.
(2) In section 212 (meaning of “overseas relationship”)—
(a)in subsection (1)(b) omit sub-paragraph (i) (including the “and”), and
(b)in subsection (1A)(1), after “England and Wales” insert “or to Northern Ireland”.
(3) In section 213 (“specified” overseas relationships)—
(a)in subsection (1), for “by Schedule 20” substitute—
“—
(a)in the case of a relationship registered by two people who under the relevant law are of the same sex when the relationship is registered, by Part 1 of Schedule 20,
(b)in the case of a relationship registered by two people who under the relevant law are not of the same sex when the relationship is registered, by Part 2 of Schedule 20”.
(b)in subsection (3), after “this section” insert “amending Part 1 of Schedule 20”, and
(c)after subsection (3) insert—
“(3A) No order may be made under this section amending Part 2 of Schedule 20 without the consent of the Department of Finance.”.
(4) In section 215(2) (overseas relationships treated as civil partnerships: the general rule)—
(a)in subsection (2), for “subsection (3)” substitute “subsections (3) and (5F)”,
(b)before subsection (6) insert—
“(5E) In the case of a relationship that is—
(a)an overseas relationship treated as a civil partnership for the purposes of this Act only as a result of the amendments made by the Marriage (Same-sex Couples) and Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2019, and
(b)registered (under the relevant law) as having been entered into before 13 January 2020,
subsection (5F) or (as the case may be) subsections (5G) and (5H) apply in place of subsections (3) to (5).
(5F) The time when the two people are treated as having formed a civil partnership is the start of 13 January 2020.
(5G) But if—
(a)before 13 January 2020, a dissolution or annulment of the relationship was obtained outside the United Kingdom, and
(b)the dissolution or annulment would be recognised under Chapter 3 if the overseas relationship had been treated as a civil partnership at the time of the dissolution or annulment,
subsection (5F) does not apply and subsections (1) and (2) have effect subject to subsection (5H).
(5H) The overseas relationship is not to be treated as having been a civil partnership for the purposes of any provision except—
(a)Schedules 7, 11 and 17;
(b)such provisions as are specified (with or without modifications) in regulations under section 8 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019;
(c)Chapter 3 (so far as necessary for the purposes of paragraphs (a) and (b)).”, and
(c)in subsection (6) omit “216,”.
(5) Omit section 216 (the same-sex requirement).
(6) In section 237(2)(b)(ii)(3) (regulation about recognition of dissolution etc where civil partnership not recognised under law of civil partner’s domicile), for “legal relationships between two people of the same sex” substitute “relationships of the sort that the civil partnership in question is (whether generally, between two persons of the same sex, or between two persons of the opposite sex)”.
(7) In Schedule 20—
(a)the existing text becomes Part 1,
(b)in that Part—
(i)in the words before the table, for “213 (meaning of “overseas relationship)” substitute “213(1)(a) (specified relationships between two people of the same sex)”, and
(ii)in the table, omit columns 1 and 2 of the entry for the relationship of marriage for each of Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Mexico: Mexico City Federal District, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United States of America: California, United States of America: Connecticut, United States of America: District of Columbia, United States of America: Iowa, United States of America: Massachusetts, United States of America: New Hampshire, United States of America: New York and United States of America: Vermont, and
(c)after that Part insert as Part 2 the following provision—
“PART 2U.K.Opposite-sex relationships
A relationship is specified for the purposes of section 213(1)(b) (specified relationships between two people who are not of the same sex) if it is registered in a country or territory given in the first column of the table and fits the description given in relation to that country or territory in the second column—
| Country or territory | Description |
|---|---|
| Andorra | uniό estable de parella |
| Argentina | unión convivencial |
| Aruba | geregistreerd partnerschap |
| Australia: Australian Capital Territory | civil partnership |
| Australia: New South Wales | a relationship registered under the Relationships Register Act 2010 |
| Australia: Queensland | civil partnership |
| Australia: South Australia | registered relationship |
| Australia: Tasmania | significant relationship |
| Australia: Victoria | registered domestic relationship |
| Austria | eingetragene Partnerschaft |
| Belgium | the relationship referred to as cohabitation légale, wettelijke samenwoning or gesetzliches Zusammenwohnen |
| Bermuda | domestic partnership |
| Brazil | união estável |
| Canada: Alberta | adult interdependent partner |
| Canada: Manitoba | the relationship referred to as common-law relationship or as union de fait |
| Canada: Nova Scotia | domestic partnership |
| Canada: Quebec | union civile |
| Chile | unión civil |
| Colombia | unión marital de hecho |
| Cyprus | politiki symviosi |
| Ecuador | unión de hecho |
| Estonia | kooselulepingu |
| Falkland Islands | civil partnership |
| France | pacte civil de solidarité |
| Gibraltar | civil partnership |
| Greece | simfono simviosis |
| Isle of Man | civil partnership |
| Israel | civil union |
| Luxembourg | the relationship referred to as partenariat enregistré or eingetragene Partnerschaft |
| Malta | civil union |
| Mexico: Campeche | sociedad civil de Convivencia |
| Mexico: Coahuila | pacto civil de solidaridad |
| Mexico: Mexico City Federal District | sociedad de convivencia |
| Mexico: Michoacán | sociedad de Convivencia |
| Mexico: Tlaxcala | sociedad de convivencia solidaria |
| Netherlands | geregistreerd partnerschap |
| New Zealand | civil union |
| San Marino | unione civile |
| South Africa | civil partnership |
| Spain: Balearic Islands | pareja estable |
| Spain: Basque Country | pareja de hecho |
| Spain: Galicia | pareja de hecho |
| United States of America: California | domestic partnership |
| United States of America: Colorado | civil union |
| United States of America: District of Columbia | domestic partnership |
| United States of America: Hawaii | civil union |
| United States of America: Illinois | civil union |
| United States of America: Maine | domestic partnership |
| United States of America: Nevada | domestic partnership |
| United States of America: New Jersey | domestic partnership |
| United States of America: Washington | state registered domestic partnership” |
Commencement Information
I1Reg. 17 in force at 13.1.2020, see reg. 1(2)
Section 212(1A) was inserted by paragraph 29(1) and (2) of Schedule 1 to S.I. 2014/560 with UK extent (see article 6).
Section 215, as it extends to England and Wales, was amended (and, in particular, subsections (5A) to (5D) were inserted) by S.I. 2019/1458.
Section 237(2)(b)(ii), as it extends to England & Wales, was amended by S.I. 2019/1458.