The intersection between domestic laws and EU law for children moving across borders within the EU is complex and increasingly common. Judges apply EU instruments to matters such as parental responsibility, maintenance or succession but these instruments do not cover whether a parental bond exists (in law).

This is left to domestic law (Private International Law – PIL included). This situation may create obstacles to the exercise of free movement rights of children and their families and infringe/undermine human rights.

It was recently acknowledged that an action to support the recognition of parenthood between Member States was necessary: in fact, the European Commission recently presented the Parenthood Proposal COM(2022)695. However, until the new regulation is adopted, the effective and coherent application of the EU acquis is at times dependent on the operation of domestic law including PIL.

The UniPAR Consortium includes researchers from Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Poland and Spain that bring in expertise in the area of parentage, domestic and EU Private international law, EU law and Human Rights. Target group: Judges, Lawyers, Notaries, Civil Servants, Law and Policy Makers, Academics, Civil Society.