On January 1, 2017, the 2007 Hague
Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other
Forms of Family Maintenance (the Child Support Convention) will
enter into force for the United States. On this date, U.S. States
will begin to process child support cases with other countries that
have ratified the Convention under the requirements of the
Convention and article 7 of the Uniform Interstate Family Support
Act (UIFSA 2008). In order to comply with the Convention, the U.S.
must implement the Convention’s case processing forms.
Request: The Office of
Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) requests a 180 day emergency
approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act of international forms
used under the 2007 Hague Convention on the International Recovery
of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (the Hague
Child Support Convention) starting on January 1, 2017. We are
requesting emergency clearance by October 20, 2016. Concurrent with
submitting this emergency approval request to OMB, OCSE has also
initiated a regular review process for the Hague Convention forms.
On January 1, 2017, the 2007 the Hague Child Support Convention
will enter into force for the United States. Once the Convention is
in effect, U.S. States will process child support cases with other
countries that have ratified the Convention under the requirements
of the Convention and article 7 of the Uniform Interstate Family
Support Act (UIFSA 2008). As of January 1, 2017, 33 countries will
be party to the Convention . The U.S. must implement the
Convention's case processing forms in order to be compliant with
the Convention. Since ratification of the Convention was not
certain, OCSE could not submit the forms for approval until an
effective date of the Convention became official. The instrument of
ratification for the Hague Convention was officially deposited on
September 7, 2016 which set the effective date as January 1, 2017.
International child support: More than one country may become
involved in a child support case when the parents and/or child live
in different countries, when a support order was issued
internationally, and when assets are sought in countries other than
the country enforcing the support order, among other scenarios .
Because laws and procedures vary widely among international
jurisdictions, international cases can be complex and difficult to
process, resulting in less child support reaching the families who
need it. In the U.S., we estimate that about one percent of the
total child support caseload has an international component, a
number which is expected to increase over time. Hague Convention
background: On January 1, 2017, the 2007 Hague Child Support
Convention will enter into force for the United States. This
Convention contains groundbreaking provisions that, for the first
time on a worldwide scale, will establish uniform , simple, fast,
and inexpensive procedures for the processing of international
child support cases. Once the Convention is in effect, U.S. States
will process child support cases with other countries that have
ratified the Convention under the requirements of the Convention
and article 7 of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA
2008). For more information about the Hague Child Support
Convention see Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) policy
AT-14-11, IM-15-01, and DCL 16-11. Hague Convention forms: In order
to comply with the Convention, the U.S . must implement the
Convention's case processing forms. The Convention case processing
forms were developed by a special working group, in which the U.S.
played a leadership role, as a part of the Hague Child Support
Convention negotiations. The working group designed the 14
Convention forms to comply with the Convention and reduce the
complexity of international case processing for all Convention
countries. ACF cannot comply through the use of regular clearance
procedures because of the Hague Child Support Convention's
effective date of January 1, 2017. Due to the uncertainty of the
ratification date, we were not able to use regular clearance
procedures to meet this effective date. Emergency approval is
necessary for ACF to perform its mission. This request is submitted
under section 1320.13 of the implementing rule of the Paperwork
Reduction Act.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Form 1 Annex B: Application for Enforcement of a Decision Made or Recognized in the Requested State, including restricted information on the applicant
OCSE emergency clearance request - Hague forms 10-13-2016.docx
Annex B: Application for Enforcement of a Decision Made or Recognized in the Requested State, including restricted information on the applicant