Gerechtshof Den Haag; 2021-08-04; Jeugdbescherming west regio Haaglanden; 200.293.591
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2021:1503
Date: 2021-08-04
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Netherlands

82021NL0804(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2021:1503, Gerechtshof Den Haag (hereinafter ‘the Court of Appeal’), 4 August 2021
The new Brussels II Regulation (1)
A mother had parental responsibility over four minor children. The interested second party was the ex-partner of the mother. He had acknowledged the paternity of one of the children.
The minors were placed under the supervision of an authorised institution on 14 October 2019. The supervision was further extended from 29 October 2020 to 29 January 2021 by order of the juvenile judge of the rechtbank Den Haag (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’) of 27 October 2020.
In this order, the Court of First Instance declared it’s lack of jurisdiction to decide on the initial request from the authorised institution, by which the supervision was sought to be extended to a one year period.
The authorised institution disagreed with the conclusion. It requested the Court of Appeal to annul the first instance order, as far as possible provisionally enforceable, and declare the Dutch courts competent to hear and grant the initial request.
The mother lodged a defence against the appeal. She requested the Court of Appeal to declare its lack of jurisdiction to hear the authorised institution’s request or reject that request and confirm the contested first instance order.
5.4 The Court of Appeal states the following first: according to Article 8(1) of the new Brussels II Regulation, ‘the courts of a Member State shall have jurisdiction in matters of parental responsibility over a child who is habitually resident in that Member State at the time the court is seised’. Therefore, the court must answer the question of whether the minors were habitually resident in the Netherlands on 18 January 2021, i.e. on the date of filing the request initiating the proceedings (…)
The Court of Appeal found that on 18 January 2021, i.e. on the date of filing the initiating request, the minors had their habitual residence in the Netherlands. For the reasoning of the court, see point 5.5 of the judgment. Consequently, the Court of Appeal held that the Court of First Instance erroneously declared a lack of jurisdiction to hear the request. The Court of Appeal annulled the first instance order under appeal.
(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 of 27 November 2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, repealing Regulation (EC) No 1347/2000.