[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 2, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15741-15742]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-8516]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice 2524]


Study Group on Intercountry Adoption of the Secretary of State's 
Advisory Committee on Private International Law: Meeting on Basic 
Concepts for Federal Implementing Legislation for 1993 Hague Convention 
on Intercountry Adoption

    The fifth meeting of the Study Group on Intercountry Adoption will 
take place on Tuesday, April 15, 1997, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., in 
the main building of the Department of State in Washington, DC.
    The purpose of the meeting is to discuss basic concepts for 
implementation throughout the United States of the 1993 Hague 
Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of 
Intercountry Adoption. The meeting will focus on a concept paper that 
will be available from the Office of the Legal Adviser of the State 
Department in advance of the meeting.
    The Hague Convention provides norms and procedures to safeguard 
children on the move from one party country to another in connection 
with their adoption and to protect the interests of their birth and 
adoptive parents. It provides, among other things, for the recognition 
of adoptions made pursuant to the Convention, requires the 
establishment in party countries of a national Central Authority with 
primarily facilitation and oversight functions, and requires adoption

[[Page 15742]]

agencies wishing to offer services for individual adoptions covered by 
the Convention to meet national accreditation requirements and 
individual providers of adoption services to be approved.
    Those attending the meeting will examine and discuss the concept 
paper describing the basic approach and provisions of eventual U.S. 
federal implementing legislation that is currently in preparation by 
various federal government departments, including the Departments of 
State, Justice, Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Immigration and 
Naturalization Service. Draft legislation will be developed after the 
meeting taking into consideration the comments and proposals made at 
the meeting and will be submitted to the Office of Management and 
Budget for Administration clearance. The hope is that the draft bill 
will be ready for introduction in both Houses of Congress by Summer 
1997 as an Administration bill. The Hague Convention is to be submitted 
to the President at about the same time for transmission to the Senate 
for advice and consent to U.S. ratification.
    Persons and organizations interested in how the Convention is to be 
implemented in the United States, whether they are able to attend the 
meeting or not, are welcome in writing or by fax to request documents 
from, and to submit written comments or proposals to, the office 
indicated below. The text of the Hague Convention may be found at 31 
International Legal Materials 292 (1993); the Appendix at p. 76 of P.H. 
Pfund, ``Intercountry Adoption: The 1993 Hague Convention: Its Purpose, 
Implementation, and Promise'', 28 Family Law Quarterly (1994); I/II 
Uniform Law Review 237 (1993); and 40 Netherlands International Law 
Review 292 (1993).
    Members of the general public may attend up to the capacity of the 
meeting room and participate in the discussion subject to the Chair. 
The meeting is scheduled in the Dean Acheson Auditorium of the 
Department of State; entry should be only via the 23rd Street entrance 
between ``C'' and ``D'' Streets, N.W. As access to the building is 
controlled and in order to expedite entry, the office indicated below 
should be notified by mail or fax no later than c.o.b. Friday, April 11 
of the name, address, firm or affiliation if any, social security 
number and date of birth of all persons wishing to attend. Between 9:00 
and 10:00 a.m. someone will be at the 23rd Street entrance to the State 
Department to facilitate admission to the building.
    For copies of the concept paper, and the text of the Convention if 
necessary, please contact the Office of the Assistant Legal Adviser for 
Private International Law (L/PIL), attention Ms. Rosie Gonzales, by 
mail at 2430 E Street, South Building--Suite 357, Washington, DC 20037-
2800 or by fax at (202) 776-8482.
Peter H. Pfund,
Assistant Legal Adviser for Private International Law and Vice Chair, 
Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Private International Law, 
U.S. Department of State.
[FR Doc. 97-8516 Filed 3-31-97; 1:52 pm]
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