Case C-92/12 PPU

Health Service Executive

v

S.C.

and

A.C.

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the High Court (Ireland))

‛(Jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and in the matters of parental responsibility — Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 — Child habitually resident in Ireland, where the child was placed in care on many occasions — Child’s behaviour aggressive and placing herself at risk — Judgment ordering placement of the child in a secure care institution in England — Material scope of the regulation — Article 56 — Procedures for consultation and consent — Obligation to recognise or declare enforceable the decision to place the child in a secure care institution — Provisional measures — Urgent preliminary ruling procedure)’

Summary of the Judgment

Judicial cooperation in civil matters — Jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of decisions in matrimonial matters and in the matters of parental responsibility — Regulation No 2201/2003 — Powers — Effect of obligations arising from Article 56 of the Regulation on the adoption of a judgment on placement of a child

A judgment of a court of a Member State that orders the placement of child in a secure institution providing therapeutic and educational care situated in another Member State and entails that, for her own protection, the child is deprived of her liberty for a specified period, falls within the material scope of Regulation No 2201/2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, repealing Regulation No 1347/2000. Article 1(3)(g) of Regulation No 2201/2003 excludes from the scope of that regulation ‘measures taken as a result of criminal offences committed by children’ and, consequently, measures of detention of a child imposed as punishment for the commission of a criminal offence. A placement accompanied by measures involving deprivation of liberty falls within the scope of that regulation where that placement is ordered for the protection of the child, and not to punish the child. (see paras 65, 66, operative part 1)

The consent referred to in Article 56(2) of Regulation No 2201/2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, repealing Regulation No 1347/2000, must be given, prior to the making of the judgment on placement of a child, by a competent authority, governed by public law. The fact that the institution where the child is to be placed gives its consent is not sufficient. In circumstances in which a court of a Member State which made the judgment on placement is uncertain whether a consent was validly given in the requested Member State, because it was not possible to identify with certainty the competent authority in the latter State, an irregularity may be corrected in order to ensure that the requirement of consent imposed by Article 56 of Regulation No 2201/2003 has been fully complied with. (see para. 95, operative part 2)

Regulation No 2201/2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, repealing Regulation No 1347/2000, must be interpreted as meaning that a judgment of a court of a Member State which orders the compulsory placement of a child in a secure care institution situated in another Member State must, before its enforcement in the requested Member State, be declared enforceable in that Member State. In order not to deprive that regulation of its effectiveness, the decision of the court of the requested Member State on the application for a declaration of enforceability must be made with particular expedition and appeals brought against such a decision of the court of the requested Member State must not have a suspensive effect. (see para. 133, operative part 3)