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DCL-02-34
DATE:December 4, 2002
TO: ALL STATE IV-D DIRECTORS
RE:Additional Reciprocating Nations
Dear Colleague:
I am pleased to announce five additional federal-level international reciprocity declarations on child support. The Netherlands, Norway and the Canadian Provinces of Alberta, Newfoundland, and Ontario have each been declared a "foreign reciprocating country" for child support enforcement purposes by the United States (see 42 U.S.C. 659A).
State IV-D agencies should now accord requests from these foreign reciprocating countries the same services provided to other interstate requests. Outgoing requests for services should be sent to their respective Central Authorities. Please be advised that both Norway and the Netherlands have kindly agreed to accept petitions and evidence in English - it is not necessary to have documents translated for these countries.
On December 2, 2002, the Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State, published the attached cumulative public notice on completed federal reciprocity declarations in the Federal Register (67 FR 71605). You may find this Federal Register Notice useful in proceedings where the existence of a reciprocal relationship is at issue. Additionally, the Department of State, in collaboration with OCSE, provides general information on international child support enforcement on its website at: [http://travel.state.gov/child_support.html]
Also attached for your convenience is a complete list of all the Central Authorities of the nations and Canadian provinces with which the United States has reciprocity under 42 U.S.C. 659A. The Central Authorities can also be found on the online Interstate Roster and Referral Guide (IRG): http://ocse3.acf.hhs.gov/ext/irg/sps/selectastate.cfm. Any future changes will be reflected at this site location.
For further information about any reciprocity declaration or other international child support enforcement matters, please contact the U.S. Central Authority for International Child Support, Office of Child Support Enforcement, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW, Washington, DC 20447, phone: 202-401-5566, fax: 202-401-5539, email: ocseinternational@acf.hhs.gov.
Sincerely,
Sherri Z. Heller, Ed.D.
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement
Attachments(below)
cc: ACF Regional Administrators
ACF Assistant Regional Administrators
CSE Regional Program Managers
FEDERAL RECIPROCATING COUNTRIES - 12/2002
AUSTRALIA
The Child Support Registrar Australian Child Support Agency GPO Box 480 Hobart , Tasmania 7001 Australia Tel: 61 3 6216 0864 Fax: 61 3 6216 0899 Email: csaoverseas@csa.gov.auCZECH REPUBLIC *
Ú345ad pro mezinárodn283právní ochranu d277tí Benešova 22 602 00 Brno Czech Republic Tel: 42 05 422 15443 (44 or 45) linka 27 Fax: 42 05 422 12836 (or 17900) Email: rzalesky@iol.czIRELAND
Dept. of Equality and Law Reform Dun Aimhirgin 43-49 Mespil Road Dublin 4 Republic of Ireland Tel: 35 31 667 0344 Fax: 35 31 667 0367NETHERLANDS
Landelijk Bureau Inning Onderhoudsbijdragen (LBIO) Postbus 800 2800 AV GOUDA Netherlands Tel: 18 2 55 55 55 Fax: 18 2 55 55 16 Email: VNY@lbio.nlNORWAY
FFU-Bidrag Postboks 8138 Dep. N-0033 Oslo Norway Tel: 47 23 31 1300 Fax : 47 23 31 1601 Email: ffu@trygdeetaten.noPOLAND *
Ministerstwo Sprawiedliwosci Judicial Assistance & European Law Dept Al. Ujazdowskie 11 00950 Warszawa, Skr. Poczt. 33 Poland Tel: 48 22 521 23 81 Fax: 48 22 628 09 49 Email: borowska@ms.gov.plPORTUGAL *
Direção-Geral dos Serviços Judiciários Av 5 de Outubro, 125 1069-044 Lisboa Portugal Tel: 21 790 61 10 Fax: 21 790 62 29 Email: elda.gama@dgsj.ptSLOVAK REPUBLIC *
Centrum pre medzinárodno-právnu ochranu detí a mládeže Špitálska 6 P.O. Box 57 814 99 Bratislava Slovak Republic Tel: 421 2 5975 2319 Fax: 421 2 5296 2895 Email: cipc@employment.gov.sk* All documents must be translated into the reciprocating country’s language. UIFSA-like forms in Czech, Polish, Portuguese and Slovak are available by email from the U.S. Central Authority for International Child Support. Send your request to ocseinternational@acf.hhs.gov or call 202.401.5566.
FEDERAL RECIPROCATING CANADIAN PROVINCES - 12/2002
ALBERTA
Maintenance Enforcement Program Post Office Box 2404 Edmonton, Alberta T5J 3Z7 Tel: 780 401 7530 Fax: 780 422 3447BRITISH COLUMBIA
Ministry of the Attorney General Family Justice Programs Division Suite 210-815 Hornby Street Vancouver, B.C. V6Z 2E6 Tel: 604 660 2528 Fax: 604 660 3728MANITOBA
Family Law Branch Department of Justice 704-405 Broadway Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 3L6 Tel: 204 945 5471 Fax: 204 948 2004NEWFOUNDLAND/ LABRADOR
Social Law Unit, Justice Department Confederation Bldg. 4th Fl P.O. Box 8700 St John's, Newfoundland A1B 4J6 Tel: 709 729 2887 Fax: 709 729 2129NOVA SCOTIA
Legal Services Division Department of Justice P.O. Box 7 Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 2L6 Tel: 902 424 2343 Fax: 902 424 4556ONTARIO
Family Responsibility & Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Orders Unit P.O. Box 220 Downsview, Ontario M3M 3A3 Tel: 416 240 3635 Fax: 416 240 2402[Federal Register: December 2, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 231)]
[Notices]
[Page 71605-71606]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02de02-133]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
[Public Notice 4191]
Notice of Declaration of Foreign Countries as Reciprocating
Countries for the Enforcement of Family Support (Maintenance)
Obligations
Agency: Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State.
This notice amends and supplements Department of State public
notice 3802, 66 FR 58544 (November 21, 2001).
Section 459A of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 659A) authorizes
the Secretary of State with the concurrence of the Secretary of Health
and Human Services to declare foreign countries or their political
subdivisions to be reciprocating countries for the purpose of the
enforcement of family support obligations if the country has
established or has undertaken to establish procedures for the
establishment and enforcement of duties of support for residents of the
United States. These procedures must be in substantial conformity with
the standards set forth in the statute. The statutory standards are:
Establishment of child support orders, including the establishment of
paternity if necessary to establish the order; enforcement of child
support orders, including collection and distribution of payments under
such orders; cost-free services (including administrative and legal
services, as well as paternity testing; and the designation of an
agency as Central Authority to facilitate enforcement.
Once such a declaration is made, support agencies in jurisdictions
of the United States participating in the program established by title
IV-D of the Social Security Act (the IV-D program) must provide
enforcement services under that program to such reciprocating countries
as if the request for service came from a U.S. state.
The declaration authorized by the statute may be made ``in the form
of an international agreement, in connection with an international
agreement or corresponding foreign declaration, or on a unilateral
basis.'' The Secretary of State has authorized either the Legal Adviser
or the Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs to make such a
declaration after consultation with the other.
As of this date, the following countries (or Canadian provinces)have
[[Page 71606]]
been designated foreign reciprocating countries:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Country Effective date
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Australia............................. May 21, 2001.
Canadian Provinces:
Alberta............................. Sept. 4, 2002.
British Columbia.................... Dec. 15, 1999.
Manitoba............................ July 11, 2000.
Newfoundland/Labrador............... August 7, 2002.
Nova Scotia......................... Dec. 18, 1998.
Ontario............................. August 7, 2002.
Czech Republic........................ May 3, 2000.
Ireland............................... Sept. 10, 1997.
Netherlands........................... May 1, 2002.
Norway................................ June 10, 2002.
Poland................................ June 14, 1999.
Portugal.............................. Mar. 17, 2001.
Slovak Republic....................... Feb. 1, 1998.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information
Each of these countries (or Canadian provinces) has designated a
Central Authority to facilitate enforcement and ensure compliance with
the standards of the statute. Information relating to the designated
Central Authorities, and the procedures for processing requests may be
obtained by contacting the United States Central Authority for
International Child Support, Department of Health and Human Services,
Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), 370 L'Enfant Promenade,
SW., 4-East, Washington, DC 20447; phone 202.401.5566, fax
202.401.5539, e-mail ocseinternational@acf.hhs.gov.
Questions regarding this notice, the status of negotiations,
declarations and agreements may be obtained by contacting Mary Helen
Carlson at the Office of the Assistant Legal Adviser for Private
International Law, Suite 203 South Building, 2430 E Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20037-2851; phone 202.776.8420, fax 202.776.8482, E-mail
carlsonmh@ms.state.gov.
The law also permits individual states of the United States to
establish or continue existing reciprocating arrangements with foreign
countries when there has been no federal declaration. Many states have
such arrangements with additional countries not yet the subject of a
federal declaration. Information as to these arrangements may be
obtained from the individual state IV-D Agency.
Jeffrey D. Kovar,
Assistant Legal Adviser for Private International Law, Department of
State.
[FR Doc. 02-30453 Filed 11-29-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-08-P
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