On 6 and 7 May 2025, the city of Bucharest hosted a European conference dedicated to cross-border parental responsibility, as part of the eFilit project, funded by the European Commission. This ambitious initiative aims to strengthen the implementation of European Union law and promote the use of information and communication technologies in the field of judicial cooperation. The project is led by the EIPA (European Institute of Public Administration), with the active participation of the European Union of Judicial Officers (UEHJ) and the OSAE (Ordem dos Solicitadores e dos Agentes de Execução of Portugal).
This conference is part of a cycle of interprofessional training sessions bringing together judges, lawyers and judicial officers around shared challenges related to the application of European regulations. The Bucharest edition focused on the Brussels II-ter Regulation (Regulation EU 2019/1111), which entered into force in August 2022. This key legal instrument governs matters of jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of decisions in matrimonial and parental responsibility cases, including international child abduction.
The sessions addressed core topics such as the concept of the child’s habitual residence, party autonomy in choosing jurisdiction, the transfer of jurisdiction in the best interests of the child, and the child’s right to be heard. The discussions were enriched by recent case law from the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights.
Among the high-level speakers were Prof. Nadia Rusinova (qualified mediator and professor in The Hague), Prof. Ester Di Napoli (professor in Rome and expert in private international law), Dr. Cristina Mariottini (EIPA Luxembourg), and Me Roxana Catea (lawyer specialized in cross-border litigation).
The UEHJ had the honour of actively participating in this session by sending a delegation of six judicial officers from Greece, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The OSAE also contributed to the interprofessional nature of the event by delegating five Portuguese judicial officers.
This type of training clearly demonstrates the UEHJ’s commitment to promoting interoperability, cooperation among legal professionals, and the continuous improvement of practices within an evolving European judicial area. It also highlights the increasingly important role of judicial officers in cross-border civil proceedings.
