Response of the European Law Institute to the European Commission's Public Consultation on the Initiative on the Cross-Border

Christiana Fountoulakis (Independent), Gerald Mäsch (Independent), et. al., Response of the European Law Institute to the European Commission's Public Consultation on the Initiative on the Cross-Border, Eur. L. I. (2022):

The European Law Institute (ELI) is an independent non-profit organisation established to initiate, conduct and facilitate research, make recommendations and provide practical guidance in the field of European legal development. In this paper the ELI responds to the public consultation of the European Commission on the cross-border protection of vulnerable adults in the European Union. The law on the protection of vulnerable adults is not harmonised and varies from one EU Member State to another. The paper discusses issues of the European cooperation, competence, recognition and conflict of law rules in relation to vulnerable adults in international matters in particular in connection with the Hague Convention of 13 January 2000 on the International Protection of Adults. The ELI suggests that legislative measures taken by the EU aiming at complementing the Hague Convention should take into account the ex lege power of representation by family members as a measure of protection of the adult in personal or patrimonial matters. The paper underlines the need for an online European Certificate of Powers of Representation. It also advocates, under certain conditions, the abolition of the exequatur procedures for measures of protection requiring enforcement in another Member State.