Dutch Civil Code

Book 10 Private International Law

Title 10.6 Adoption

Section 10.6.1 General provisions

Article 10:103 Hague Adoption Convention 1993
For the purpose of the present Title (Title 10.6), the Hague Adoption Convention 1993 means the Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption concluded at The Hague on 29 May 1993 (Treaty Series 1993, 197).

Article 10:104 Definition of 'adoption'
Without prejudice to the Hague Adoption Convention 1993, the Act for the implementation of the Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption signed at The Hague on 29 May 1993 (Stb. 1998, 302) and the Act Regulating the Placement of Foreign Children with a view to Adoption, adoption in the present Title (Title 10.6) means the decision of a competent authority establishing legal familial relationships between on the one hand a minor child and on the other hand two persons jointly or one person solely.

Section 10.6.2 Adoption decreed in the Netherlands

Article 10.105 Applicable law
- 1. Except for what is provided in paragraph 2, Dutch law shall be applicable to adoptions that are decreed in the Netherlands.
- 2. The law of the State of which the child possesses the nationality, shall apply to the consent or the consultation or counselling of the child’s parents or of other persons or institutions. If the child possesses more than one nationality, then the law that requires the consent or the consultation or counselling shall be applicable. Where the child has the Dutch nationality, Dutch law shall be applicable, irrespective of whether the child possesses another nationality besides the Dutch nationality.
- 3. Where the law that is, pursuant to paragraph 2, applicable to the consent or to the consultation or counselling does not provide rules for adoption, Dutch law shall be applicable. The law applicable pursuant to the present paragraph shall determine also whether in the absence of the required consent such consent may be replaced by a judicial decision.
- 4. Dutch law shall be applicable to the revocation of an adoption that is decreed in the Netherlands.

Article 10:106 Law governing the legal effects of an adoption decreed in the Netherlands
An adoption that is decreed in the Netherlands shall have, with respect to legal familial relationships, the legal effects that under Dutch law are attached to it.

Section 10.6.3 The recognition of a foreign adoption

Article 10:107 Applicability of the present Section to adoptions established abroad
The provisions of the present Section (Section 10.6.3) shall apply to adoptions to which the Hague Adoption Convention 1993 is not applicable.

Article 10:108 Recognition of foreign adoption orders (I)
- 1. An adoption order granted outside the Netherlands shall be recognised by operation of law in the Netherlands if it was decreed by:
a. a competent authority in the foreign State in which both, the adoptive parents and the child, had their habitual residence at the time on which an application for this adoption was lodged as well as at the time that the adoption order was decreed; or
b. a competent authority in the foreign State in which either the adoptive parents or the child habitually resided at the time on which an application for this adoption was lodged as well as at the time that the adoption order was decreed.
- 2. A foreign adoption order shall not be recognised if:
a. it was manifestly not preceded by a proper investigation or a proper administration of justice, or;
b. in the case referred to in paragraph 1, under (b), the adoption order is not recognised in the State in which the child or, as the case may be, in the State in which the adoptive parents habitually resided at the time on which an application for this adoption was lodged as well as at the time of the adoption order, or;
c. recognition of that adoption order is obviously incompatible with public order.
- 3. Recognition of a foreign adoption order shall in any case be denied on the ground referred to in paragraph 2, under (c), if the adoption order manifestly relates to a sham transaction.
- 4. Even if a foreign adoption order involves a person who possess the Dutch nationality, recognition may not be refused on the ground referred to in paragraph 2, under (c), solely because a different law has been applied to it than would have been applied in accordance with the provisions of Section 10.6.2.

Article 10:109 Recognition of foreign adoption orders (II)
- 1. An adoption order granted outside the Netherlands by a competent authority in the foreign State in which the child habitually resided at the time on which an application for its adoption was lodged as well as at the time that the adoption order was decreed, while the adoptive parents habitually resided in the Netherlands, shall be recognised if:
a. the provisions of the Act regulating the placement of foreign children with a view to adoption are observed, and;
b. recognition of the adoption is manifestly in the best interests of the child, and;
c. recognition would not be denied on a ground referred to in Article 10:108, paragraph 2 or 3.
- 2. An adoption as referred to in paragraph 1 shall only be recognised if a court has established that the conditions for recognition referred to in that paragraph have been met. The procedure set out in Article 1:26 of the Civil Code shall apply.
- 3. A court establishing that the conditions for recognition of an adoption have been met, shall, of its own motion (ex officio), order to add a subsequent mark of the adoption on the relevant civil status certificate. Article 1:25 paragraph 6, Article 1:25c paragraph 3, and Article 1:25g paragraph 2, shall apply accordingly.

Article 10:110 Additional legal effects of a recognition of a foreign adoption
- 1. The recognition of a foreign adoption order as referred to in Articles 10:108 and 10:109 shall also include recognition of:
a. the legal familial relationships between the child and its adoptive parents and, where relevant, the blood relatives of the adoptive parents;
b. the authority (right to exercise parental responsibility) of the adoptive parents over the child;
c. the termination of the pre-existing legal familial relationships between the child and its mother and father, respectively, the blood relatives of its mother and father, if the adoption has this effect in the State in which it took place.
- 2. If a foreign adoption does not have the effect, in the State in which it took place, of terminating the pre-existing legal familial relationships, it shall not have this effect in the Netherlands either.

Article 10:111 Conversion of a foreign adoption into an adoption under Dutch law
In the case referred to in Article 10:110, paragraph 2, an application (request) may be submitted to convert the foreign adoption into an adoption under Dutch law if the child habitually resides in the Netherlands and has been admitted to the Netherlands to reside permanently with its adoptive parents. Article 11 paragraph 2 of the Act for the Implementation of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption shall apply accordingly. Article 10:105, paragraph 2, shall apply accordingly to the consent of the parents whose consent for the adoption was required.

Section 10.6.4 Transitional law

Article 10:112 Transitional provision
The present Title (Title 10.6) is applicable to adoption applications (requests) submitted as of 1 January 2004 and to the recognition of adoptions decreed (established) outside the Netherlands as of 1 January 2004.