datamatters24/research-document-archive huggingface dataset:
that avoids duplication of enforcement efforts and 
assigns priorities in enforcement. 
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATES. 
(a) GROUP HEALTH PLANS AND GROUP HEALTH IN-
SURANCE COVERAGE.—Subject to subsection (c), the 
amendments made by section 2(a) apply with respect to 
group health plans for plan years beginning on or after 
January 1, 2010. 
(b) INDIVIDUAL HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE.— 
The amendment made by section 2(b) applies with respect 
to health insurance coverage offered, sold, issued, re-
newed, in effect, or operated in the individual market on 
or after such date. 
(c) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING EXCEPTION.—In the 
case of a group health plan maintained pursuant to 1 or 
more collective bargaining agreements between employee 
representatives and 1 or more employers ratified before 
the date of enactment of this Act, the amendments made 
by section 2(a) shall not apply to plan years beginning 
before the later of— 
(1) the earliest date as of which all such collec-
tive bargaining agreements relating to the plan have 
terminated (determined without regard to any exten-
sion thereof agreed to after the date of enactment of 
this Act); or 
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(2) January 1, 2010. 
For purposes of paragraph (1), any plan amendment made 
pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement relating to 
the plan which amends the plan solely to conform to any 
requirement added by section 2(a) shall not be treated as 
a termination of such collective bargaining agreement. 
Æ 
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I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3240 
To ensure compliance with the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects 
of International Child Abduction by countries with which the United 
States enjoys reciprocal obligations, to establish procedures for the 
prompt return of children abducted to other countries, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 16, 2009 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. POE of Texas, Mr. MOLLOHAN, 
Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. WOLF, Mr. INGLIS, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ 
of California, and Mr. FORTENBERRY) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition 
to the Committees on Ways and Means, Financial Services, the Judiciary, 
and Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently 
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To ensure compliance with the 1980 Hague Convention on 
the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction by 
countries with which the United States enjoys reciprocal 
obligations, to establish procedures for the prompt return 
of children abducted to other countries, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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country to the United States, and on behalf of mili-
tary parents stationed abroad; 
(4) promote an international consensus that the 
best interests of children are of paramount impor-
tance in matters relating to their custody, and that 
it is in the best interest of a child to have issues of 
custody determined in the State of their habitual 
residence immediately prior to the abduction; 
(5) provide the necessary training for military 
officials and training and assistance to military fam-
ilies to address the unique circumstances of the reso-
lution of child custody disputes which occur abroad, 
or occur when a parent is serving abroad; 
(6) facilitate the creation and effective imple-
mentation of international mechanisms, particularly 
the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of 
International Child Abduction, to protect children 
from the harmful effects of their wrongful removal 
and retention; and 
(7) facilitate the compliance of the United 
States with reciprocal obligations contained in the 
Hague Convention regarding children wrongfully re-
moved to or retained in the United States. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
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(1) AMBASSADOR AT LARGE.—The term ‘‘Am-
bassador at Large’’ means the Ambassador at Large 
for International Child Abductions appointed under 
section 101. 
(2) ANNUAL REPORT.—The term ‘‘Annual Re-
port’’ means the Annual Report on International 
Child Abductions required under section 102. 
(3) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—Except as otherwise provided, the term ‘‘ap-
propriate congressional committees’’ means the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Foreign Rela-
tions of the Senate. 
(4) CENTRAL
AUTHORITY
FOR
THE
UNITED 
STATES.—The term ‘‘Central Authority for the 
United States’’ has the meaning given such term in 
article 6 of the Convention on the Civil Aspects of 
International Child Abduction, done at The Hague 
on October 25, 1980. 
(5) HAGUE CONVENTION.—The term ‘‘Hague 
Convention’’ means the Convention on the Civil As-
pects of International Child Abduction, done at The 
Hague on October 25, 1980. 
(6) HAGUE
CONVENTION
COMPLIANCE
RE-
PORT.—The term ‘‘Hague Convention compliance 
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report’’ means the annual report on compliance with 
the Hague Convention required to be submitted by 
the Department of State to Congress under section 
2803 of the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restruc-
turing Act of 1998 (42 U.S.C. 11611). 
(7) HAGUE
CONVENTION
SIGNATORY.—The 
term ‘‘Hague Convention signatory’’ means a coun-
try that has signed or acceded to the Convention 
and with which the United States has entered into 
a reciprocal agreement pursuant to the Convention. 
(8) MOU.—The term ‘‘MOU’’ means a memo-
randum of understanding. 
(9) MOU COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘MOU coun-
try’’ means a country or entity with which the 
United States has entered into a memorandum of 
understanding to resolve cases of international child 
abduction. Such MOU’s shall include— 
(A) identification of a specific protocol de-
signed to establish and effectuate the urgent re-
turn of children abducted from the United 
States not later than six weeks after the date 
of the application for return of the child having 
been received by the agency authorized for such 
purposes; 
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(B) identification of a specific protocol for 
the establishment and protection of the rights 
of both interim and ongoing parental access be-
tween children and their parents; 
(C) identification of an official entity with-
in the government possessing the authority to 
facilitate the resolution of child abduction cases 
in cooperation with the Office on International 
Child Abductions and left-behind parents in the 
United States; 
(D) identification of the judicial or admin-
istrative agency possessing the authority to fa-
cilitate the prompt adjudication of a request for 
the return of an abducted child to the United 
States; 
(E) identification of a law enforcement 
agency and available mechanisms and proce-
dures to investigate and assist in the location, 
protection, and retrieval of an abducted child 
and to ensure the immediate enforcement of or-
ders entered by the court in the habitual resi-
dence to return an abducted child to the United 
States; 
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(F) establishment of welfare and where-
abouts visits between a United States embassy 
and a wrongfully removed or retained child; and 
(G) additional requisite elements that shall 
be satisfied and maintained for purposes of sec-
tion 201(b) as determined by the Secretary of 
State. 
(10) NONSIGNATORY
COUNTRY.—The term 
‘‘nonsignatory country’’ means a country which is 
neither a Hague Convention signatory nor a MOU 
country to which a United States child has been ab-
ducted or in which a United States child remains 
wrongfully retained. 
(11) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the 
Office on International Child Abductions established 
pursuant to section 101. 
(12) PATTERN
OF
NONCOOPERATION.—The 
term ‘‘pattern of noncooperation’’ means a national 
government’s systemic failure, evidenced by the ex-
istence of ten or more parental child abduction cases 
which, after having been properly prepared and 
transmitted by the Central Authority for the United 
States remain unresolved within its borders after 18 
months or, where there are fewer than ten unre-
solved cases, any cases still unresolved after nine 
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months from the time of receipt and transmittal by 
the Central Authority for the United States of a re-
quest to fulfill its international obligations with re-
spect to the prompt resolution of cases of child ab-
duction. 
(13) RIGHTS OF ACCESS.—The term ‘‘rights of 
access’’ means the rights of a parent and child to 
enjoy reasonable unfettered contact both within and 
outside the State of the child’s habitual residence. 
(14) UNRESOLVED
ABDUCTION
CASE.—The 
term ‘‘unresolved abduction case’’ means an abduc-
tion case which has been properly documented to es-
tablish that pursuant to the law of the State of ha-
bitual residence of a minor child, an international 
abduction or wrongful retention of such child whose 
habitual residence immediately prior to the abduc-
tion was the United States, remains unresolved more 
than two months following the date of the receipt 
and transmittal by the Central Authority for the 
United States of the request for return of such child. 
(15) UNRESOLVED
ACCESS
CASE.—The term 
‘‘unresolved access case’’ means an application for 
the establishment of rights of parental access on ei-
ther an interim or permanent basis, or the request 
for the enforcement of rights of parental access 
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(contact orders) which have been previously estab-
lished by a court of competent jurisdiction, which re-
main unresolved more than two months following the 
date of the receipt and transmittal by the Central 
Authority for the United States of a request for as-
sistance in the organization of rights of access. 
TITLE I—DEPARTMENT OF 
STATE ACTIVITIES 
SEC. 101. OFFICE ON INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTIONS; 
AMBASSADOR 
AT 
LARGE 
FOR 
INTER-
NATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTIONS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE.—There is estab-
lished within the Department of State an Office on Inter-
national Child Abductions that shall be headed by the Am-
bassador at Large for International Child Abductions ap-
pointed under subsection (b). 
(b) APPOINTMENT.—The Ambassador at Large shall 
be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate. 
(c) DUTIES.—The Ambassador at Large shall have 
the following responsibilities: 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The primary responsibility 
of the Ambassador at Large shall be to— 
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(A) promote measures to prevent the inter-
national abduction of children from the United 
States; 
(B) advocate on behalf of children whose 
habitual residence is the United States and who 
have been abducted to another country; 
(C) assist left-behind parents in the resolu-
tion of abduction or refusal of access cases; and 
(D) advance mechanisms to prevent and 
resolve cases of international child abduction 
abroad. 
(2) ADVISORY
ROLE.—The Ambassador at 
Large shall be a principal adviser to the President 
and the Secretary of State regarding matters of 
international child abduction and refusals of rights 
of access, and shall make recommendations regard-
ing— 
(A) the policies of the United States Gov-
ernment toward governments with a pattern of 
noncooperation with respect to cases of inter-
national child abduction; 
(B) coordination with other United States 
agencies 
regarding 
criminal 
prosecutions, 
Interpol assistance in the issuance of warrants 
and alerts, pending cases, training for United 
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States forces, and the negotiation of agree-
ments to protect United States forces stationed 
abroad; 
(C) policies to address international child 
abduction globally; 
(D) the position of the United States Gov-
ernment on cases establishing the future func-
tioning of the Hague Convention in the country 
at issue; and 
(E) the position of the United States Gov-
ernment on a request to accept an accession to 
the Hague Convention. 
(3) DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATION.—Subject to 
the direction of the President and the Secretary of 
State, the Ambassador at Large is authorized to 
represent the United States in matters and cases 
relevant to international child abduction and refusals 
of rights to access in— 
(A) contacts with foreign governments, the 
World Organization for Cross-border Co-oper-
ation in Civil and Commercial Matters, the 
Hague Conference on Private International 
Law, and other international organizations of 
which the United States is a member; 
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(B) multilateral conferences and meetings 
relevant to international child abduction; and 
(C) advocating accession to the Hague 
Convention, or, where accession to the Hague 
Convention is not possible, negotiating MOU’s. 
(4) REPORTING RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Am-
bassador at Large shall have the reporting respon-
sibilities described in section 102. 
(5) CASE FILE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND IN-
FORMATION PROTOCOL.—The Ambassador at Large 
shall establish a case file management system within 
the Office to ensure the maintenance of accurate, 
complete, and timely information, to the extent 
available, on all cases of international child abduc-
tion or refusal of access about which the Office is 
notified, as well as a protocol for the receipt and up-
dating of such information with actions taken by the 
Office and responses by the respective country, as 
well as deadlines required by the Hague Convention 
or the MOU at issue. 
(6) UNIFORM CASE INTAKE PROCEDURES.—The 
Ambassador at Large shall establish uniform case 
intake procedures, which also make note of deadlines 
for responses pursuant to the Hague Convention or 
MOU, where applicable. 
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(7) CIVIL SERVICE EMPLOYEES.—The Ambas-
sador at Large, in cooperation with the Secretary of 
State, shall ensure that a majority of the personnel 
of the Office are composed of civil service employees 
or members of the Service (as such term is described 
in section 103 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 
(22 U.S.C. 3903)) who shall be permitted to remain 
with the Office for at least four years. 
(8) LEGAL ADVICE.—The Ambassador at Large 
shall make available legal advice to case managers of 
the Central Authority of the United States on an as- 
needed basis to address country-specific legal issues 
and to provide such case managers with information 
that can be disseminated generally on questions fre-
quently asked by left behind parents. 
(9) USER FRIENDLY RESOURCES.—The Ambas-
sador at Large shall establish user-friendly re-
sources, including— 
(A) a toll free number that goes directly to 
the Office; and 
(B) a language line for left behind parents 
who do not speak English. 
(10) ASSISTANCE
TO
JUDGES.—The Ambas-
sador at Large shall— 
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(A) be responsible for producing and dis-
seminating a training course for United States 
Federal and State judges likely to receive 
Hague Convention cases; and 
(B) retain not fewer than four specially 
trained judges available on an as needed basis 
to advise United States Federal and State 
judges handling Hague Convention cases. 
(d) FUNDING.—The Secretary of State shall provide 
the Ambassador at Large with such funds as may be nec-
essary for— 
(1) the hiring of staff for the Office; 
(2) the conduct of investigations by the Office; 
(3) the establishment of a case file management 
system; 
(4) the translation of case documents in cases 
that may have systemic effect in the country in 
question; 
(5) the development of training materials; and 
for 
(6) necessary travel to carry out the provisions 
of this section. 
SEC. 102. ANNUAL REPORT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than March 31 of each 
year or the first day thereafter on which the appropriate 
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House of Congress is in session, the Secretary of State, 
with the assistance of the Ambassador at Large, shall sub-
mit to Congress an Annual Report on International Child 
Abduction by providing detailed information with respect 
to unresolved cases about which the Central Authority for 
the United States has been notified. Each Annual Report 
shall contain the following: 
(1) HAGUE
CONVENTION
SIGNATORY
COUN-
TRIES.—Information on the following: 
(A) A current list of those countries with 
which the United States has reciprocal obliga-
tions under the Hague Convention. 
(B) A current list of those countries that 
have requested the United States to accept 
their accession to the Hague Convention. 
(C) The number of pending cases of al-
leged abduction of or refusal of access to chil-
dren from the United States in each the coun-
tries referred to in subparagraphs (A) and (B), 
broken-out by type with date of original appli-
cation and country of detention. 
(D) The proportion of cases of abduction 
of or refusal of access to children from the 
United States resolved in each country since the 
advent of reciprocal Hague Convention obliga-
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tions and the length of time each such case was 
pending. 
(E) For each pending unresolved case, in-
cluding the current reporting year and previous 
years— 
(i) the date of the alleged abduction 
or wrongful retention; 
(ii) the date any administrative or ju-
dicial application pursuant to the Hague 
Convention was brought, if applicable; 
(iii) detailed information about each 
such case, including in the case of judicial 
application having been filed, the court 
handling the matter and the procedural 
history, the specific actions taken by the 
United States chief of mission in the coun-
try to which the child is alleged to have 
been wrongfully removed or retained, and 
the date of submission of documents re-
quired by the application process; and 
(iv) detailed information and an as-
sessment of the lack of resolution about 
each such case together with a determina-
tion of any systemic issues related to the 
Hague Convention signatory country as 
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well as recommendation to enhance the 
protocol for the improvement of the resolu-
tion of future cases. 
(F) A description of the efforts of the Sec-
retary of State to encourage Hague Convention 
signatory countries to facilitate the work within 
such respective countries of nongovernmental 
organizations that assist parents seeking the re-
turn of children under the Hague Convention. 
(G) Whether a state of reciprocity no 
longer exists between the United States and a 
Hague Convention signatory country such that 
United States parents, advocates, and judges 
should, in assessing the risk of wrongful re-
moval or retention, require strong protective 
and preventative measures. 
(H) All reporting requirements contained 
in the Hague Convention compliance report. 
(2) MOU COUNTRIES.—Information on the fol-
lowing: 
(A) A list of those countries that are MOU 
countries. 
(B) A description of the basic elements of 
the memorandum of understanding entered into 
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with each country specified in subparagraph 
(A). 
(C) Whether each such country is moving 
toward accession to the Hague Convention. 
(D) The number of unresolved cases of 
wrongful removal or retentions of or refusal of 
access to children from the United States in 
each such country. 
(E) The proportion of cases of abduction 
of or refusal of access to children from the 
United States resolved in each such country 
since the applicable MOU went into force. 
(F) For each unresolved abduction or ac-
cess case— 
(i) the date of the alleged abduction 
or wrongful retention; 
(ii) the date of any administrative or 
judicial process that was brought seeking 
the return of a minor child to the United 
States, or brought seeking rights of access 
to such child, and in the case of judicial 
process, the court in which the matter has 
been brought and the procedural history; 
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(iii) whether the protocols established 
pursuant to the applicable MOU have been 
followed; 
(iv) detailed information about each 
such case, including the specific actions 
taken by the United States chief of mission 
in the country to which the child is alleged 
to have been wrongfully removed or re-
tained and actions by the Central Author-
ity for the United States; 
(v) detailed information on and an as-
sessment of the lack of resolution as well 
as a determination of any systemic issues 
related to the MOU country with specific 
attention regarding any failure of any of 
the requisite elements of the MOU; and 
(vi) recommendations to amend the 
applicable MOU to improve the resolution 
of cases and ameliorate any systemic 
issues. 
(3) NONSIGNATORY
COUNTRIES.—Information 
on the following: 
(A) A list of those countries that are nei-
ther Hague Convention signatory countries nor 
MOU countries. 
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