Maintenance Act, 1994

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Interpretation of Part II .

6.—(1) In this Part—

“the Brussels Convention” means the Convention on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (including the Protocol annexed to that Convention), done at Brussels on the 27th day of September, 1968, as subsequently amended, and given the force of law in the State by the Acts of 1988 and 1993 and a reference to an Article of that Convention shall be construed as including a reference to the corresponding Article of the Lugano Convention;

“central authority of a reciprocating jurisdiction” means—

(a) the central authority of such a jurisdiction which has been designated pursuant to paragraph 1 or, where appropriate, paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Rome Convention, or

(b) an authority of such a jurisdiction with functions corresponding to those exercisable by the Central Authority within the State;

“the Lugano Convention” has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 1993;

“maintenance creditor” includes any body which, under the law of a reciprocating jurisdiction, is entitled to exercise the rights of redress of, or to represent, the creditor;

“reciprocating jurisdiction” means a Contracting State (within the meaning of the Acts of 1988 and 1993) which is declared by order of the Minister for Foreign Affairs to be a reciprocating jurisdiction;

“the Rome Convention” means the Convention between the member states of the European Communities on the simplification of procedures for the recovery of maintenance payments done at Rome on the 6th day of November, 1990, the text of which in the English language is set out, for convenience of reference, in the First Schedule to this Act.

(2) (a) The Minister for Foreign Affairs may by order declare that any Contracting State (within the meaning of the Acts of 1988 and 1993) specified in the order is a reciprocating jurisdiction.

(b) An order that is in force under this subsection shall be evidence that any state specified in the order is a reciprocating jurisdiction.

(c) The Minister for Foreign Affairs may by order amend or revoke an order under this subsection.

(3) If a judgment or an instrument or settlement referred to in Article 50 or 51 of the Brussels Convention does not relate solely to maintenance, this Part shall apply only to those parts that relate to maintenance.

(4) A word or expression in this Part which is used in the Rome Convention has the same meaning as it has in that Convention and for this purpose the report by Mr. J. Martin and Mr. C. Ó hUiginn on the Convention, a copy of which has been placed in the Oireachtas Library, may be considered by any court when interpreting such word or expression and shall be given such weight as is appropriate in the circumstances.