Council on General Affairs and Policy
The Council on General Affairs and Policy (CGAP) met from 5 to 8 March 2019, with record attendance, representing 70 Members (including one Member REIO (EU)), 3 non-Member States, and other Observers from 3 IGOs / 9 NGOs.
CGAP reviewed the work of the HCCH carried out since the last meeting in 2018 and charted the course for future work.
Amongst others, CGAP welcomed the advice of the Special Commission on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments that it had completed its mandate and instructed the Permanent Bureau to continue preparations for the Twenty-Second Session in June – July 2019.
CGAP also welcomed the work of the Experts’ Group on Parentage / Surrogacy and endorsed continuation of the work in line with the Experts’ Group report. It agreed that another meeting of the Experts’ Group should be convened prior to the 2020 meeting of CGAP.
Furthermore, CGAP welcomed the report of the Experts’ Group on the Tourists and Visitors Project and requested the Permanent Bureau to make arrangements for another meeting of the Experts’ Group, in particular with a view to considering whether the HCCH could contribute solutions to the problems encountered by international tourists. CGAP also requested the Permanent Bureau to seek the views of Members on questions to be addressed by the Experts’ Group in advance of its meeting. CGAP requested the Group to report on findings and any options identified at the 2020 meeting of CGAP.
CGAP also discussed wide-ranging matters related to existing HCCH Conventions and the governance of the Organisation.
The full Conclusions & Recommendations are available here.