[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 2, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15741-15742]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-8516]
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
[Public Notice 2524]
Study Group on Intercountry Adoption of the Secretary of State's
Advisory Committee on Private International Law: Meeting on Basic
Concepts for Federal Implementing Legislation for 1993 Hague Convention
on Intercountry Adoption
The fifth meeting of the Study Group on Intercountry Adoption will
take place on Tuesday, April 15, 1997, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., in
the main building of the Department of State in Washington, DC.
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss basic concepts for
implementation throughout the United States of the 1993 Hague
Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of
Intercountry Adoption. The meeting will focus on a concept paper that
will be available from the Office of the Legal Adviser of the State
Department in advance of the meeting.
The Hague Convention provides norms and procedures to safeguard
children on the move from one party country to another in connection
with their adoption and to protect the interests of their birth and
adoptive parents. It provides, among other things, for the recognition
of adoptions made pursuant to the Convention, requires the
establishment in party countries of a national Central Authority with
primarily facilitation and oversight functions, and requires adoption
[[Page 15742]]
agencies wishing to offer services for individual adoptions covered by
the Convention to meet national accreditation requirements and
individual providers of adoption services to be approved.
Those attending the meeting will examine and discuss the concept
paper describing the basic approach and provisions of eventual U.S.
federal implementing legislation that is currently in preparation by
various federal government departments, including the Departments of
State, Justice, Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service. Draft legislation will be developed after the
meeting taking into consideration the comments and proposals made at
the meeting and will be submitted to the Office of Management and
Budget for Administration clearance. The hope is that the draft bill
will be ready for introduction in both Houses of Congress by Summer
1997 as an Administration bill. The Hague Convention is to be submitted
to the President at about the same time for transmission to the Senate
for advice and consent to U.S. ratification.
Persons and organizations interested in how the Convention is to be
implemented in the United States, whether they are able to attend the
meeting or not, are welcome in writing or by fax to request documents
from, and to submit written comments or proposals to, the office
indicated below. The text of the Hague Convention may be found at 31
International Legal Materials 292 (1993); the Appendix at p. 76 of P.H.
Pfund, ``Intercountry Adoption: The 1993 Hague Convention: Its Purpose,
Implementation, and Promise'', 28 Family Law Quarterly (1994); I/II
Uniform Law Review 237 (1993); and 40 Netherlands International Law
Review 292 (1993).
Members of the general public may attend up to the capacity of the
meeting room and participate in the discussion subject to the Chair.
The meeting is scheduled in the Dean Acheson Auditorium of the
Department of State; entry should be only via the 23rd Street entrance
between ``C'' and ``D'' Streets, N.W. As access to the building is
controlled and in order to expedite entry, the office indicated below
should be notified by mail or fax no later than c.o.b. Friday, April 11
of the name, address, firm or affiliation if any, social security
number and date of birth of all persons wishing to attend. Between 9:00
and 10:00 a.m. someone will be at the 23rd Street entrance to the State
Department to facilitate admission to the building.
For copies of the concept paper, and the text of the Convention if
necessary, please contact the Office of the Assistant Legal Adviser for
Private International Law (L/PIL), attention Ms. Rosie Gonzales, by
mail at 2430 E Street, South Building--Suite 357, Washington, DC 20037-
2800 or by fax at (202) 776-8482.
Peter H. Pfund,
Assistant Legal Adviser for Private International Law and Vice Chair,
Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Private International Law,
U.S. Department of State.
[FR Doc. 97-8516 Filed 3-31-97; 1:52 pm]
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