North Macedonia signs 3 HCCH Conventions and 1 Protocol
On 9 December 2019, the Republic of North Macedonia signed the Convention of 19 October 1996 on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children (Child Protection Convention), the Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements (Choice of Court Convention), the Convention of 23 November 2007 on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (Child Support Convention), and the Protocol of 23 November 2007 on the Law Applicable to Maintenance Obligations (Maintenance Protocol).
The next step for the above HCCH instruments to enter into force for the Republic of North Macedonia is ratification (see Arts 57 and 61 of the Child Protection Convention, Arts 27 and 31 of the Choice of Court Convention, Arts 58 and 60 of the Child Support Convention, and Arts 23 and 25 of the Maintenance Protocol). The Child Protection Convention currently binds 52 parties (for more information, see the Child Protection Section of the HCCH website). The Choice of Court Convention currently binds 32 parties (see the Choice of Court Section). The Child Support Convention and the Maintenance Protocol currently bind 41 and 30 parties respectively (see the Child Support section).
The signing ceremony took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands (i.e. the Depositary). The Republic of North Macedonia was represented by Prof. Renata Deskoska, Minister of Justice; Mr Vladimir Delov, Public Relations, Cabinet of the Minister of Justice; Ms Katerina Shterjoska, Minister Counsellor, Chargé d'Affaires a.i.; Ms Elisaveta Panovska, First Secretary, Embassy of the Republic of North Macedonia in The Hague. On behalf of the Depositary, Mr Jules van Eijndhoven, Head of the Treaties Division, Ms Paulien Muntinga, Deputy Head of the Treaties Division and Mr Rieks Boekholt, Legal Officer, attended the ceremony. Ms Simone Gerrits, Desk Officer for North Macedonia, attended on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Permanent Bureau of the HCCH was represented by Secretary General Dr Christophe Bernasconi and Legal Officer Mr Frédéric Breger.
The Republic of North Macedonia has been a Member of the HCCH since 1993 and is a Contracting Party to 10 HCCH Conventions.
