The
Governments of the Member States of the Organization
of American States, desirous of concluding a convention
on conflict of laws concerning the adoption of minors,
have agreed as follows:
Article
1: This Convention shall apply to the adoption
of minors in the form of full adoption, adoptive legitimation
and other similar institutions that confer on the adoptee
a legally established filiation, when the domicile of
the adopter (or of the adopters) is in one State Party
and the habitual residence of the adoptee is in another
State Party.
Article
2: When signing, ratifying or acceding to this
Convention, any State Party may declare that it applies
to any other form of international adoption of minors.
Article
3: The law of the habitual residence of the minor
shall govern capacity, consent, and other requirements
for adoption, as well as those procedures and formalities
that are necessary for creating the relationship.
Article
4: The law of the domicile of the adopter (or adopters)
shall govern:
a. The capacity to be an adopter;
b. The age and marital status requirement to be
met by an adopter;
c. The consent of an adopter's spouse, if required,
and d. The other requirements for being an adopter.
If,
however, the requirements of the law of the adopter
(or adopters) are manifestly less strict than those
of the law of the adoptees habitual residence, the law
of the adoptee shall govern.
Article
5: Adoptions that are in conformity with this Convention
shall produce their effects unconditionally in the States
Parties, and the exception of the unknown institution
may not be invoked.
Article
6: The requirements of publication and registration
of adoption shall be subject to the law of the State
in which they are to be satisfied.
The
particular features and type of adoption shall be stated
in the registration.
Article
7: Where called for, the secrecy of the adoption
shall be guaranteed. However, whenever possible, medical
background information on the minor and on the birth
parents, if it is known, shall be communicated to the
legally appropriate person, without mention of their
names or of other data whereby they may be identified.
Article
8: In adoptions governed by this Convention, the
authorities granting the adoption may require the adopter
(or adopters) to provide evidence of his physical, moral,
psychological and economic capacity, through public
or private institutions, the specific purpose is to
protect minors. These institutions must be specifically
authorized by some State or by some international organization.
The
institutions that certify the capacity referred to above
shall undertake to report to the authority granting
the adoption on the conditions under which the adoption
has developed over a period of one year. To this end,
the authority granting the adoption shall inform the
certifying institution that the adoption has been granted.
Article
9: In case of full adoption, adoptive legitimation,
and similar institutions:
a.
The relations between the adopter (or adopters)
and the adoptee, including support relations, and the
relations between the adoptee and the family of the
adopter (or adopters), shall be governed by the same
law as would govern the relations between the adopter
(or adopters) and his legitimate family;
b.
Ties between the adoptee and his family of origin
shall be considered dissolved. However, impediments
to marriage shall continue.
Article
10: In the case of adoptions other than full adoption,
adoptive legitimation, and similar institutions, relations
between the adopter (or adopters) and the adoptee shall
be governed by the law of the domicile of the adopter
(or adopters).
The
relations between the adoptee and his family of origin
shall be governed by the law of his habitual residence
at the time of adoption.
Article
11: The rights of succession of the adoptee or
the adopter (or adopters) shall be governed by the rules
applicable to the respective successions.
In
case of full adoption, adoptive legitimation, and similar
institutions, the adoptee, and the adopter (or adopters)
and the family thereof, shall have the same rights of
succession as those of legitimate family members.
Article
12: Adoptions referred to in Article I are irrevocable.
Revocation of adoptions referred to in Article 2 shall
be governed by the law of the habitual residence of
the adoptee at the time of adoption.
Article
13: Where it is permitted, conversion of simple
adoption into full adoption, adoptive legitimation,
or similar institutions shall be governed, at the choice
of the petitioner, by the law of the habitual residence
of the adoptee at the time of the adoption, or by that
of the State in which the adopter (or adopters) has
his domicile at the time the conversion is requested.
If
the adoptee is more than 14 years of age, his consent
shall be required.
Article
14: Annulment of the adoption shall be governed
by the law under which it was granted. An annulment
shall be decreed only by judicial authorities, and the
interests of the minor shall be protected in accordance
with Article 19 of this Convention.
Article
15: The authorities of the State of the habitual
residence of the adoptee shall be competent to grant
the adoptions referred to in this Convention.
Article
16: The judges of the State where the adoptee was
habitually resident at the time the adoption was granted
shall be competent to decide on annulment or revocation
of the adoption.
The
authorities of the State of habitual residence of the
adoptee at the time of the adoption; those of the State
of domicile of the adopter (or adopters); or those of
the State of domicile of the adoptee, if he has a domicile
of his own at the time the conversion is requested,
shall be competent, at the option of the petitioner,
to decide on the conversion, where it is permitted,
of simple adoption into full adoption, adoptive
legitimation,
or similar institutions.
Article
17: The judges of the State of the domicile of
the adopter (or adopters) shall be competent to rule
on matters concerning the relations between the adoptee
and the adopter (or adopters) and the family thereof
until the adoptee has a domicile of his own.
As
soon as the adoptee has his own domicile, the judge
of the domicile of the adoptee or that of the adopter
(or adopters) shall, at the option of the petitioner,
have jurisdiction.
Article
18: The authorities of a State Party may refuse
to apply the law declared applicable under this Convention
when the law is manifestly contrary to its public policy
(order public).
Article
19: The terms of this Convention and the laws applicable
under it shall be interpreted consistently and in favor
of the validity of the adoption and the best interests
of the adoptee.
Article
20: A State Party may at any time declare that this
Convention applies to adoptions of minors habitually
resident in it by persons also habitually resident in
it when, in the opinion of the authority concerned,
the circumstances of a given case indicate that the
adopter (or adopters) plans to establish his domicile
in another State Party after the adoption has been granted.
Article
21: This Convention shall be open for signature
by the Member States of the Organization of American
States.
Article
22: This Convention is subject to ratification.
The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with
the General Secretariat of the Organization of American
States.
Article
23: This Convention shall remain open for accession
by any other State. The instruments of accession shall
be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Organization
of American States.
Article
24: Each State may, at the time of signature, ratification
or accession, make reservations to this Convention,
provided that each reservation concerns one or more
specific provisions.
Article
25: Adoptions granted according to domestic law
when the adoptee and the adopter (or adopters) have
their domicile or habitual residence in the same State
Party shall produce their effects unconditionally in
the other States Parties, without prejudice to their
being governed by the law of the new domicile of the
adopter (or adopters).
Article
26: This Convention shall enter into force on the
thirtieth day following the date of deposit of the second
instrument of ratification.
For
each State ratifying or acceding to the Convention after
the deposit of the second instrument of ratification,
the Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth
day after deposit by such State of its instrument of
ratification or accession.
Article
27: If a State Party has two or more territorial
units in which different systems of law apply in relation
to the matters dealt with in this Convention, it may,
at the time of signature, ratification or accession,
declare that this Convention shall extend to all its
territorial units or to only one or more of them.
Such
declaration may be modified by subsequent declarations,
which shall expressly indicate the territorial unit
or units to which the Convention applies. Such subsequent
declarations shall be transmitted to the General Secretariat
of the Organization of American States, and shall become
effective thirty days after the date of their receipt.
Article
28: This Convention shall remain in force indefinitely,
but any of the States Parties may denounce it. The instrument
of denunciation shall be deposited with the General
Secretariat of the Organization of American States.
After one year from the date of deposit of the instrument
of denunciation, the Convention shall no longer be in
effect for the denouncing State, but shall remain in
effect for the other States Parties.
Article
29: The original instrument of this Convention,
the English, French, Portuguese and Spanish texts of
which are equally authentic, shall be deposited with
the General Secretariat of the Organization of American
States, which shall forward an authenticated copy of
its text to the Secretariat of the United Nations for
registration and publication in accordance with Article
102 of its Charter. The General Secretariat of the Organization
of American States shall notify the Member States of
that Organization and the States that have acceded to
the Convention of the signatures, deposits of instruments
of ratification, accession and denunciation as well
as of reservations, if any. It shall also transmit the
declarations provided for in Articles 2, 20, and 27
of this Convention.
IN
WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries,
being duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments,
have signed this Convention.
DONE
AT LA PAZ, Republic of Bolivia, this twenty-fourth day
of May, and one thousand nine hundred and eighty-four.