Opinion ID: 4469548
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Japanese Central Authority

Text: Ogawa next argues that he must have some rights of custody because the Japanese Central Authority forwarded his application for Hague Convention assistance to the U.S. Central Authority. Under the terms of the Convention, each signatory country must “designate a Central Authority” to assist in a child’s return. Hague Convention, art. 6.4 One of the duties of a Central Authority is to transmit an application for a child’s return to the country to which the child has been removed, provided that the Central Authority “has reason to believe that the child is in another” signatory country. Hague Convention, art. 9. 4 The United States’ Central Authority is the Department of State, see Exec. Order No. 12648, 53 Fed. Reg. 30637, 30637 (Aug. 11, 1988); Japan’s Central Authority is the Minister for Foreign Affairs, see Act for Implementation of the Convention on the Civil Aspects of Int’l Child Abduction, Act No. 48 of 2013, art. 3, http://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/law/detail/?id=2159&vm=02&re=02&new= 1 (Japan) [hereinafter Implementation Act]. 13 Yet Ogawa’s argument stems not from the terms of the Convention itself, but from provisions of Japanese law that implement the Convention. In particular, Ogawa argues that Japanese law requires the Japanese Central Authority to dismiss applications under the Convention if “[i]t is obvious that the applicant does not have the rights of custody.” Aplt. Br. 21 (quoting Implementation Act, art. 7, para. 1, no. 6). Thus, Ogawa reasons, when the Japanese Central Authority did not dismiss his application, it acknowledged that he had some rights of custody. Ogawa overreads the Implementation Act and thus overstates the significance of the Japanese Central Authority’s actions. The Implementation Act states that the Japanese Central Authority “shall dismiss an application for assistance” under the Convention if “[i]t is obvious that the applicant does not have the rights of custody.” Implementation Act, art. 7, para. 1, no. 6 (emphasis added). But the Implementation Act does not state that by passing on the application, the Japanese Central Authority has determined as a matter of law that the applicant does have rights of custody. Further, and perhaps more importantly, it is Japanese law that governs whether Convention rights of custody exist, not a foreign administrative body’s preliminary assessment of that law. See Abbott, 560 U.S. at 10, 12. We therefore reject Ogawa’s argument that he has rights of custody under the Convention simply because the Japanese Central Authority transmitted his application to the United States.