HC/E/DK 407
DENMARK
Østre Landsret: High Court, Eastern Division
Appellate Court
NORWAY
DENMARK
1 February 1999
Final
Rights of Custody - Art. 3
Appeal dismissed, return ordered
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The actions of the Norwegian social authorities, which had been judicially approved, were such to give them rights of custody for the purposes of the Convention. The mother's action in removing the child breached those rights and was therefore wrongful.
The Appellate Court noted that the return application could have been dealt with under the Danish Act concerning returns to another Nordic country with reference to certain decisions about care and treatment. This provides that police authorities in Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark must return a child who is brought to one of these States if a decision about the care and treatment of the child has been made in one of the other Nordic countries. "Care and treatment" often means that the child has been placed in a children´s home. Such cases do not involve either central authorities or the courts.
Preparation of INCADAT commentary in progress.