Jurisdiction in Matters of Parental Responsibility Between Legal Certainty and Children’s Fundamental Rights

The impact of the protection of fundamental rights is a factor of increasing importance for the interpretation of EU private international law. In matters of parental responsibility, the application of the rules on jurisdictional competence contained in the Regulation (EC) 2201/2003 can have a significant bearing on the rights of the child protected by Art. 24 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The judgment of the Court of Justice in UD (judgment of 17 October 2018, case C-393/18 PPU) dealt with a case concerning the notion of habitual residence ofthe child, that plays a central role under the mentioned Regulation and that is related to the principle of the best interests of the child, as often remarked by the Court itself. The Court refused to provide a broad interpretation of the notion, even in a situation where the protection of fundamental rights was at stake, while highlighting the fact that the existing methods and techniques of private international law may already serve that purpose.