[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 136 (Tuesday, July 17, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39127-39128]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-13815]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice 5868]


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

    This notice amends and supplements Department of State Public 
Notice 4819, 69 FR 59980-81 (October 6, 2004).
    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 Services to declare foreign countries or their political 
subdivisions to be reciprocating countries for the purpose of the 
enforcement of family support

[[Page 39128]]

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 the standards set forth in the statute. The 
statutory standards are: Establishment of child support orders, 
including the establishment of paternity if necessary to establish the 
order; enforcement of child support orders, including collection and 
distribution of payments under such orders; cost-free services 
(including administrative and legal services), as well as paternity 
testing; and the designation of an agency as Central Authority to 
facilitate enforcement.
    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 or 
territories) have been designated foreign reciprocating countries:

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                Country                           Effective date
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Australia..............................  May 21, 2001.
El Salvador............................  June 21, 2007.
Czech Republic.........................  May 3, 2000.
Hungary................................  Jan. 22, 2007.
Ireland................................  Sept. 10, 1997.
Netherlands............................  May 1, 2002.
Norway.................................  June 10, 2002.
Poland.................................  June 14, 1999.
Portugal...............................  Mar. 17, 2001.
Slovak Republic........................  Feb. 1, 1998.
Switzerland............................  Sept. 30, 2004.
Canadian Provinces or Territories:
  Alberta..............................  Sept. 4, 2002.
  British Columbia.....................  Dec. 15, 1999.
  Manitoba.............................  July 11, 2000.
  New Brunswick........................  Feb. 1, 2004.
  Northwest Territories................  Feb. 7, 2004.
  Nunavut..............................  Jan. 20, 2004.
  Newfoundland/Labrador................  Aug. 7, 2002.
  Nova Scotia..........................  Dec. 18, 1998.
  Ontario..............................  Aug. 7, 2002.
  Saskatchewan.........................  Jan. 24, 2007.
  Yukon................................  May 22, 2007.
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Information

    Each of these countries (or Canadian provinces or territories) 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 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-East, Washington, DC 20447; phone (202) 401-
5566, fax (202) 401-5539, e-mail: [email protected].
    As of this date, reciprocity agreements have been signed, but are 
not yet in effect, with Costa Rica and Finland.
    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, e-
mail: [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.

    Dated: July 11, 2007.
Mary Helen Carlson,
Attorney-Adviser, Office of the Legal Adviser for Private International 
Law, Department of State.
 [FR Doc. E7-13815 Filed 7-16-07; 8:45 am]
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