The global membership body, Step, has called on the UK to adopt cross-border rules proposed by the European Commission to protect people who have lost mental capacity.
The rules would protect adults who are unable to look after their own interests when they need to manage assets or real estate in another country, seek medical care abroad or relocate to a different EU country.
Step, which has been advocating on this issue for over a decade, is calling for the UK to mirror these rules in its legislation to ensure that there are no barriers to people in the UK from benefiting from this change.
Currently, member states’ laws often conflict with each other, leading to legal uncertainty and lengthy proceedings and these rules would help resolve this.
The EU recognised that cross-border mental capacity is not a family matter and therefore the EC will vote on this by majority, not unanimity, and all members states need to ratify the relevant part of the Hague Convention.
The EC proposals would introduce a European Certificate of Representation, which would make it easier for representatives to prove their powers in another member state.
Step head of profession, Simon Hodges, said: “If EU law is changed to introduce these rules, it would establish a European Certificate of Representation. This would improve the quality of life and circumstances of tens of thousands of people.
“Such legislation would give people peace of mind that if they lose capacity, they have control over how their health, home and assets are managed.”
Hodges added that, whilst It will take some time before this becomes EU Law and is then introduced, it is a huge step forward and achievement for Step and its ally the European Law Institute, in any EU context.
STEP have worked closely with the European Law Institute (ELI) in calling for these reforms, with Step members co-leading the project that led to the 2020 report that stated that more is needed to protect adults in such situations internationally.
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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