European Convention on the adoption of children (revised)

Parties with reservations, declarations and objections

Party	Reservations / Declarations	Objections
Belgium	Yes	No
Denmark	Yes	No
Finland	Yes	No
Malta	Yes	No
Netherlands, the Kingdom of the	Yes	No
Romania	Yes	No
Spain	Yes	No
Ukraine	Yes	No

Belgium

07-05-2015

In accordance with Articles 15 and 28 of the Convention, Belgium declares that requests for information shall be addressed to the following authority:
Federal Public Service Justice
International Adoption Service
[...]
In accordance with Article 7, paragraph 2, of the Convention, Belgium declares that under Article 343 of its Civil Code, the term “adopter” also applies to same sex couples who are married to each other or having made a declaration of legal cohabitation, as well as to different sex couples and same sex couples who are living together permanently and effectively since at least three years.

04-05-2021

In accordance with Article 22 of the European Convention on the Adoption of Children (Revised), the Permanent Representation of Belgium wishes to notify, on behalf of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, that it has adopted two legislative texts. These two texts, namely the decree of 27 April 2020 on the adoption of children and its implementing decree of 25 March 2021 are appended (original version and French translation only).
Links to the German version of these two texts are available on the Council of Europe website, document JJ9227C, Tr./202-25.
The French version of these 2 texts is also available on the Council of Europe website, document JJ9227C, Tr./202-25.

Denmark

03-02-2012

In accordance with Article 26 of the Convention, Denmark declares that, until further notice, the Convention will not apply to Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Finland

19-03-2012

In accordance with Article 27, paragraph 1, of the Convention, Finland will make a reservation in respect of the provisions of Article 22, paragraph 3, and will not apply them to granting access to information for a child under 15 years of age.

Malta

27-04-2015

With regard to Article 28 of the Convention, the Government of Malta declares that the competent authority to address requests under Article 15 is:
The Department for Social Welfare Standards within the Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity
[...]

Netherlands, the Kingdom of the

29-06-2012

The Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands does not accept the provision of article 7, paragraph 1, subject a(ii), for Aruba and Curaçao.
In accordance with Article 15 of the Convention, the following national authorities are designated for the Kingdom of the Netherlands:
- The national authority for the European part of the Netherlands and for the Caribbean part of the Netherlands (the islands Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) is:
The Ministry of Security and Justice
Directorate-General for Youth and Implementation of Sanctions,
Control, Management and Legal and International Affairs Division
[...]
- The national authority for Aruba is:
The Ministry of Justice and Education
[...]
- The national authority for Curaçao is:
The Ministry of Justice
Att. The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Justice
[...]

23-10-2012

The Kingdom of the Netherlands accepts the Convention for Sint Maarten.
The Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands does not accept the provision of Article 7, paragraph 1, subject a(ii), for Sint Maarten.
In accordance with Article 15 of the Convention, the following national authority is designated by the Kingdom of the Netherlands for Sint Maarten:
The Minister of Justice
[...]

Romania

02-01-2012

In accordance with Article 27, paragraph 1, of the Convention, Romania declares that it will not apply the provisions of Article 7, paragraph 1, letter a.ii, under which the adoption of a child by two people of the opposite sex who have entered into a registered partnership is permitted.

02-03-2012

In accordance with Article 28 of the Convention, Romania declares that any demand for information and/or adoption request should be addressed to:
The Romanian Office for Adoptions (Oficiul Român pentru Adoptii)
[...]
The Romanian Office for Adoptions has been entrusted, according to Article 3 of the Law No. 128/2011, as the national authority competent to receive any request formulated in respect of Article 15 of the European Convention on the Adoption of Children (Revised).

Spain

05-08-2010

If the European Convention on the Adoption of Children (Revised) were to be extended by the United Kingdom to Gibraltar, Spain would like to make the following declaration:
1. Gibraltar is a non-autonomous territory whose international relations come under the responsibility of the United Kingdom and which is subject to a decolonisation process in accordance with the relevant decisions and resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
2. The authorities of Gibraltar have a local character and exercise exclusively internal competences which have their origin and their foundation in a distribution and attribution of competences performed by the United Kingdom in compliance with its internal legislation, in its capacity as sovereign State on which the mentioned non-autonomous territory depends.
3. As a result, the eventual participation of the Gibraltarian authorities in the application of this Convention will be understood as carried out exclusively as part of the internal competences of Gibraltar and cannot be considered to modify in any way what was established in the two previous paragraphs.

Ukraine

04-05-2011

In accordance with Article 27, paragraph 1, of the Convention, Ukraine reserves the right not to permit a child to be adopted by two persons of different sex who have entered into a registered partnership together.
Ukraine declares that the authority, to which requests for information under Article 15 of the Convention shall be addressed, shall be the Ministry of Education, Science, Youth and Sports of Ukraine.

19-04-2022

The Permanent Representation of Ukraine to the Council of Europe presents its compliments to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and has the honour […] to inform about the impossibility to guarantee the implementation by the Ukrainian Side in full of its obligations under the above mentioned international treaties of Ukraine for the period of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and introduction of martial law on the territory of Ukraine, until full termination of the infringement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders of Ukraine.

07-12-2023

[…]
Referring to Ukraine’s notification dated 18 April 2022 N° 31011/32-119-26603 [Council of Europe Notification JJ9359C dated 13 May 2022] in connection with the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, [the Government of Ukraine] further clarif[ies] that international treaties mentioned therein are implemented on the territory of Ukraine in full, with the exception of the territories where hostilities are (were) conducted, or temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation, on which it is impossible to fully guarantee the Ukrainian Party’s fulfillment of its obligations under the relevant treaties as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, as well as the introduction of martial law on the territory of Ukraine until the complete cessation of encroachment on the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the borders of Ukraine.
The regularly updated list of territories where hostilities are (were) conducted, or temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation is located at the link below:
https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/z1668-22#Text