EN Official Journal of the European Union C 194/5

Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 26 April 2012 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the High Court of Ireland) — Health Service Executive v SC, AC

(Case C-92/12) (1)

(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 has been 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)

2012/C 194/08

Language of the case: English

Referring court

High Court of Ireland

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Health Service Executive

Defendants: SC, AC

In the presence of: Attorney General

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — High Court of Ireland — Interpretation of Article 56 of Council Regulation 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 (OJ 2003 L 338, p. 1) — Material scope — Decision by an Irish court to place a child, habitually resident in Ireland, in secure care in a therapeutic and educational care institution in the United Kingdom — Procedures for consultation and consent to ensure the effective protection of the child — Requirement that the decision to place the child in secure care be recognised and/or declared enforceable prior to placement?

Operative part of the judgment

1. A judgment of a court of a Member State which orders the placement of child in a secure institution providing therapeutic and educational care situated in another Member State and which entails that, for her own protection, the child is deprived of her liberty for a specified period, falls within the material scope of Council Regulation 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.

2. The consent referred to in Article 56(2) of Regulation No 2201/2003 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 such as those of the main proceedings, where 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.

3. Regulation No 2201/2003 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 to be 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.

4. Where a consent to placement under Article 56(2) of Regulation No 2201/2003 has been given for a specified period of time, that consent does not apply to orders which are intended to extend the duration of the placement. In such circumstances, an application for a new consent must be made. A judgment on placement made in a Member State, declared to be enforceable in another Member State, can be enforced in that other Member State only for the period stated in the judgment on placement.

(1) OJ C 133, 5.5.2012.