Diritto internazionale privato e protezione dei minori: riflessioni a margine della riforma della volontaria giurisdizione

Child protection provisions generally involve a series of measures di-rected at granting the person or the property of children. Starting from the analysis of the current legal framework in this field, the fol-lowing article especially focuses on the existing provisions of inter-national private law, which are mainly aimed at identifying the com-petent authority and the law applicable to such measures of protec-tion, whenever “international features” may arise. In this context, a prominent role as a connecting factor is recognized towards the cri-terion of “habitual residence”, while the authorities’ decisions shall always be inspired by the “best interests” of the child, in every case in which the latter is involved. However, absent any specific defini-tions of such concepts of “habitual residence” and “best interests”, the analysis of the national and international case-law becomes rel-evant for the assessment of their practical content and application. In light of the above, the recent Italian reform on non-contentious jurisdiction – introduced by legislative decree No 149/2022 – also assumes a significant importance, as it appoints a “concurrent” competence to the notary public in issuing measures of child’s prop-erty protection – without prejudice to the ordinary competence of the Italian judicial authority. Therefore, the above-mentioned extension of competence, introduced by the recent Italian reform, makes it nec-essary to consider if and how the principles generally provided at the international level shall also apply towards the new role exercised by the notary public in the field of child protection.