Romania and the 1996 Hague Convention: an assessment of cross-border child protection challenges

Drawing on the domestic normative framework and the main actors involved in child protection, this article examines the role of the 1996 Hague Convention in cross-border cases. Against a background of limited Romanian scholarship on the Convention and a practice shaped largely by case law in post-Brexit disputes involving Romanian families in the UK, it situates the Convention within a narrow field of application, mainly in cases falling outside European Union (EU) instruments. The analysis of recent case law confirms that Romanian courts still encounter significant difficulties in distinguishing the Convention from domestic and EU instruments, in giving effect to the prorogation of jurisdiction, and in applying, with the necessary level of scrutiny, the conditions laid down by the Convention. This article also identifies judgments that illustrate a correct and rigorous application of the Convention, grounded in a careful assessment of the parties’ circumstances and a clear understanding of the function of this instrument in cross-border judicial cooperation. It concludes that only a consistent application of the 1996 Hague Convention, coherently integrated within the EU framework and domestic law, can secure the effective protection of the child’s best interests.