The proposal for a Council Regulation on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition of decisions and acceptance of authentic instruments in matters of parenthood and on the creation of a European Certificate of Parenthood is a consequence of Commission President von der Leyen’s pledge to ensure that ‘if you are a parent in one country, you are parent in every country’.

The ELI Project Team will scrutinise the rules of the proposed Regulation from four specific perspectives: children’s, LGBTI persons’ and women’s fundamental rights, and the underlying EU primary law, especially concerning the free movement of citizens. Based on its analysis, the Project Team will develop a Position Paper, in which provisions of the Commission’s Proposal will be scrutinised and alternative formulations proposed. Those will be supplemented with explanations and comments where necessary. The Team will also elaborate Model Rules in the form of desirable amendments to the future EU Regulation.

Given that the European Parliament and the Council of the EU will be examining the proposal in the forthcoming months, the ELI project will be conducted under the accelerated procedure, with the aim of producing results by February 2024. More information about the project is available here.