Private International Law Bill introduced in Parliament
- now we have left the EU, the UK can capitalise on regaining full competence to enter into international agreements in Private International Law
- new Bill will allow those international agreements to be implemented in domestic law
Private International Law (PIL) agreements provide a legal framework to help resolve cross border legal disputes – from seeking to help the return of children abducted by a parent, deciding which court resolves an international business dispute, to helping to prevent a spouse living abroad dodging child maintenance obligations.
This Bill allows the UK to implement these agreements in domestic law, thereby helping individuals, businesses and families to resolve cross border disputes.
Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said:
Now that we have left the EU, we can capitalise on the UK’s regained competence in this area of law.
This Bill allows us to implement and operate current and future agreements on Private International Law, giving confidence to UK businesses, individuals and families looking to live, work, travel and trade across borders.
Without the ability to implement these agreements in domestic law, there could be parallel court cases in different countries, leading to conflicting decisions where UK individuals, businesses and families would bear the brunt of legal costs.
The Private International Law (Implementation of Agreements) Bill, was introduced in parliament yesterday (27 February 2020).
The Bill maintains our implementation of 3 key existing agreements, also known as Hague Conventions, while enabling the UK to implement other international agreements in PIL in domestic law in future via secondary legislation including the Lugano Convention 2007.