Judge James Garbolino, Judge Catherine Serrette, and Judge Peter Messitte cover the basic elements of a Hague Convention case, including the specific requirements of the Convention, the most common defenses and their applicable standards of proof, available sources of law, and

This brief article describes the impact of the 2003 enactment of the Brussels II bis Regulation, under which courts in the European Union became bound by a separate and additional set of laws governing Hague return cases.

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

This report, published in March 2003, presents the findings of the Special Commission, which studied the operation and efficacy of the Convention.