[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 225 (Wednesday, November 21, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58544-58545]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-29153]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice No. 3802]


Notice of Declaration of Foreign Countries as Reciprocating 
Countries for the Enforcement of Family Support (Maintenance) 
Obligations

AGENCY: Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State.
    This notice amends and supplements Department of State Public 
Notice 3315, 65 FR 31953 (May 19, 2000).
    Section 459A of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 659A) authorizes 
the Secretary of State with the concurrence of the Secretary of Health 
and Human

[[Page 58545]]

Services to declare foreign countries or their political subdivisions 
to be reciprocating countries for the purpose of the enforcement of 
family support obligations if the country has established or has 
undertaken to establish procedures for the establishment and 
enforcement of duties of support for residents of the United States. 
These procedures must be in substantial conformity with mandatory 
elements set out in the statute: procedures for the establishment of 
paternity and support orders for children and custodial parents; a 
system for the enforcement of orders, including procedures for the 
collection and distribution of payments under such orders; providing 
administrative and legal services without cost to the U.S. applicant; 
and the designation of an agency to serve as a Central Authority.
    Once such a declaration is made, support agencies in jurisdictions 
of the United States participating in the program established by Title 
IV-D of the Social Security Act (the IV-D program) must provide 
enforcement services under that program to such reciprocating countries 
as if the request for service came from a U.S. state.
    The declaration authorized by the statute may be made ``in the form 
of an international agreement, in connection with an international 
agreement or corresponding foreign declaration, or on a unilateral 
basis.'' The Secretary of State has authorized either the Legal Adviser 
or the Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs to make such a 
declaration after consultation with the other.
    As of this date, the following countries (or Canadian provinces) 
have been designated foreign reciprocating countries:

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                 Country                          Effective date
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Australia...............................  May 21, 2001.
Canadian Provinces:
  British Columbia......................  Dec. 15,1999.
  Manitoba..............................  July 11, 2000.
  Nova Scotia...........................  Dec. 18, 1998.
Czech Republic..........................  May 3, 2000.
Ireland.................................  Sept. 10, 1997.
Poland..................................  June 14, 1999.
Portugal................................  Mar. 17, 2001.
Slovak Republic.........................  Feb. 1, 1998.
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Information

    Each of these countries (or Canadian provinces) has designated a 
Central Authority to facilitate enforcement and ensure compliance with 
the standards of the statute. Information relating to the designated 
Central Authorities, and the procedures for processing requests may be 
obtained by contacting Stephen Grant, Director, Office of the United 
States Central Authority for International Child Support, Department of 
Health and Human Services, Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), 
370 L'Enfant Promenade SW, 4 Aerospace Building, Washington, DC 20447; 
phone (202) 260-5943, fax (202) 401-5539, email [email protected].
    Questions regarding this notice, the status of negotiations, 
declarations and agreements may be obtained by contacting Mary Helen 
Carlson at the Office of the Assistant Legal Adviser for Private 
International Law, Suite 203 South Building, 2430 E Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20037-2851; phone (202) 776-8420, fax (202) 776-8482, 
email [email protected].
    The law also permits individual states of the United States to 
establish or continue existing reciprocating arrangements with foreign 
countries when there has been no federal declaration. Many states have 
such arrangements with additional countries not yet the subject of a 
federal declaration. Information as to these arrangements may be 
obtained from the individual state IV-D Agency.

Jeffrey D. Kovar,
Assistant Legal Adviser for Private International Law, Department of 
State.
[FR Doc. 01-29153 Filed 11-20-01; 8:45 am]
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