Opinion ID: 4224316
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Entry into Force of the Convention

Text: Article 35 of the Convention provides that it shall apply as between Contracting States only to wrongful removals or retentions occurring after its entry into force in those States. Convention, art. 35. Hence, if the removal or retention occurs before the Convention has entered into force between two States, the Convention does not apply. The Convention does not define Contracting State, but Articles 37 and 38 provide two separate procedures for countries to accept the Convention. Under Article 37 , [t]he Convention shall be open for signature by the States which were Members of the Hague Conference of Private International Law [the 'CPIL'] at the time of its Fourteenth Session. Convention, art. 37. Once a State signs, the Convention must be ratified, accepted or approved and the 8 instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval must be deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands. Convention, art. 37. Article 38 provides a second acceptance procedure for states that were not members of the CPIL at the time of its fourteenth session. In lieu of ratification, these states may accede to the Convention.2 Article 38 explains that: Any other State may accede to the Convention. . . . The accession will have effect only as regards the relations between the acceding State and such Contracting States as will have declared their acceptance of the accession. . . . The Convention will enter into force as between the acceding State and the State that has declared its acceptance of the accession on the first day of the third calendar month after the deposit of the declaration of acceptance. Convention, art. 38. As Article 38 makes clear, accession requires the acceptance of other states before the Convention will enter into force, i.e., the accession has effect only as to Contracting States that have declared their acceptance of the accession. Id. 2 A country's consent to be bound by an international agreement can take different forms, including accession to the treaty's provisions after the treaty has entered into force. See Avero Belg. Ins. v. American Airlines, Inc., 423 F.3d 73, 79 n. 7 (2d Cir. 2005). 'Accession' is 'the act whereby a State accepts the offer or the opportunity of becoming a party to a treaty already signed by some other States. Id at 79 fn.7. (quoting Lord McNair, The Law of Treaties 149 (1961)). 'Accession may occur before or after the treaty has entered into force.' Avero Belg., 423 F.3d at 79 (quoting Ian Brownlie, Principles of Public Int'l Law 583 (6th ed. 2003)). 9 At the time the Convention was opened for signature, the United States was a member of the CPIL and Thailand was not. See Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction: Status Table, Hague Convention on Private International Law, https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/ conventions/status-table/?cid=24 (last updated August 2, 2017) (Contracting State Status Table). The United States signed the Convention in 1981 and ratified it, thereby becoming a Contracting State, in 1988, and the Convention entered into force in the United States on July 1, 1988. See Contracting State Status Table; Souratgar, 720 F.3d at 102 n.5. Thailand acceded to the Convention, pursuant to Article 38, on August 14, 2002, and it entered into force in Thailand on November 1, 2002. Id. The United States accepted Thailand's accession to the Convention on January 26, 2016. See Acceptances of Accessions: Thailand, Hague Conference on Private International Law, https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/ status-table/acceptances/?mid=670 (last visited Sept. 26, 2017) (Acceptances of Accessions Table). The first day of the third calendar month after the United States accepted Thailand's accession was April 1, 2016. See id.; Convention, art. 38. 10