EUPillar IV CSK 566/10 (Sąd Najwyższy)

Summary

The court of second instance did not recognise the judgment relating to parental responsibility, according to which the applicant mother, shall have parental responsibility in relation to the child. It stated that according to Art. 23 letter e) of the Brussels IIa Regulation such a judgment shall not be recognised if it is irreconcilable with a later judgment relating to parental responsibility given in a Member State in which recognition is sought. The appellate court found that the judgment relating to the parental authority whose recognition was sought was irreconcilable with the judgment rejecting the application for return of the child issued on the basis of Art. 13 letter b) of the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. According to Art. 13 letter b) of the Hague Convention the judicial authority is not bound to order the return of the child if there is a grave risk that the return would expose it to physical or psychological harm. The court of second instance pointed out that if the court decided that the return of the child would expose it to physical harm it means that the court had already prejudged that the mother shall have no parental responsibility. The Polish Supreme Court disagreed with the above-mentioned argumentation.