Review of Maintenance and child support in private international law by Walker, L.

Cross border recovery of maintenance and child support is a technical area, subject to a complicated regulatory framework which has been the subject to a number of recent reforms. The Maintenance Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) 4/2009) applies to EU member states but refers the question of applicable law to the Hague Protocol of 23 November 2007 on the Law applicable to Maintenance Obligations which does not in apply in Denmark or the United Kingdom. This gives rise to two different procedures for recovery and enforcement within the EU. Further afield, the Hague Convention of 23 of November 2007 on the International Recovery of Child Support and other forms of Family Maintenance is applied in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Norway and Ukraine and has been ratified by the EU as a regional organisation. The Convention also has two different mechanisms for recognition and enforcement – a mainstream approach and an alternative procedure. To add to the layers of procedural complexity the Hague Convention has a narrower substantive scope than the Maintenance Regulation.