One of the main objectives of the revision is to improve existing legal rules for children’s protection in cases of cross-border disputes over parental responsibility relating to issues such as custody, access rights and child abduction.

The new rules amend several aspects of the existing Brussels IIa Regulation, providing for the following:

• clearer rules introducing an obligation to give children a genuine opportunity to express their views;
• the complete abolition of exequatur for all decisions in matters of parental responsibility. This will save time and money for citizens whenever a decision needs to be applied in an EU country other than the one where it was taken. This abolition is accompanied by a number of procedural safeguards;
• better and clearer rules on intra-EU child abduction cases with the introduction, for example, of clear deadlines to ensure that such cases are treated in the most expeditious manner;
• clearer rules on the circulation of authentic instruments and extra-judicial agreements. Under the new rules, agreements on divorce, legal separation or matters of parental responsibility will be allowed to circulate if accompanied by the relevant certificate.
• clearer provisions on the placement of a child in another member state, including the need to obtain prior consent for all placements, except where a child is to be placed with a parent;
• the harmonisation of certain rules for the enforcement procedure. While the enforcement procedure remains governed by the law of the member state of enforcement, the regulation includes some harmonised grounds for suspending or refusing enforcement, thereby giving parents and children more legal certainty.

Articles 92, 93 and 103 apply as of 22 July 2019. All other new rules will apply from 1 August 2022.