ICARA is the federal law that implements the Hague Convention. Pursuant to ICARA (22 U.S.C. §§ 9001–9011), both state and federal courts have original concurrent jurisdiction to hear cases arising under the Convention. ICARA also sets forth the structure for hearing return cases, burdens of proof applicable to the case for return and defenses, relaxed rules for admissibility of documents, and establishes guidelines for the award of fees and costs.

This document is part of The 1980 Hague Convention on International Child Abduction: A Resource for Judges, a Special Topic Webpage.