PIL instrument(s)

Case number and/or case name

L.A. v. E.Z. - 05/637/C - Civ. (réf.) Bruxelles, 30 July 2007

Details of the court

Belgium, First Instance

Articles referred to by the court

Date of the judgement

29 July 2007

Appeal history

CJEU's case law cited by the court

Summary

In its previous decision of 29 May 2007, the court had reopened the debates so that the parties could submit their views on its proposal to transfer the case to the Italian courts. The two parents live in different countries: the mother lives in Italy and the father in Belgium. The daughter lives with her mother in Italy. The Court supports a transfer based on two arguments: the child has been residing in Italy for a long time and there is a need of additional investigations to decide the case. Therefore the Court finds that the transfer is in the best interests of the child. The father disagrees with the transfer: he fears a delay by the Italian courts and he states the case would be resolved sooner if heard in Belgium. The Court refuses this argument and confirms the transfer, with support of the mother. The transfer will pass through the Central Authorities of both countries. The Italian judge has six weeks to decide whether he will take the case. The case is therefore postponed until the next hearing on 2 October 2007. The Court also notes that after the proceedings were initially instituted in 2005, it took the parties almost two years before actually requesting a judicial measure. The length of the proceedings is therefore in large part due to the parties themselves who deliberately stayed in a “legal void”. The Court cannot accept the mother’s request for provisional measures on financial issues and the accommodation of the children during the holidays, for lack of urgency.