On 20 October 2026, the European Parliament approved a proposal for a new Regulation on the cross-border protection of adults. For families with ties to more than one country, including the many international residents who have made their lives in Italy, it fills a long-standing gap.
Follow this link for the text of the proposal (COM(2023) 280 final) presented by the European Commission to the Parliament this week.
When an adult loses the ability to manage their own affairs, through Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, a stroke or another age-related condition, protective measures are usually put in place under the law of one country. In Italy a guardianship judge may appoint a representative to manage the adult’s affairs (“amministrazione di sostegno”), or alternatively the civil court can adopt more resstrictive measures such as “interdizione” or inabilitazione”. In the UK the adult may have granted a power of attorney in advance (“Lasting power of attorney”), or failing this an application can be made for the Court of Protection to nominate a Deputy.
Until now, there was no uniform EU framework for what happens when that same adult lives, owns property or needs care in another Member State. Families have faced uncertainty over which court has jurisdiction, which law applies and whether a foreign appointment will be accepted by local banks, notaries, land registries and healthcare providers. Often the only solution has been to start new proceedings abroad.
The main features of the new EU Regulation:
- Clarifies which country’s court will be competent to take protection measures.
- Determines the applicable law.
- Provides for automatic recognition of measures taken in one Member State
- Creates a European certificate of support and representation.
The Regulation broadly aligns EU law with the 2000 Hague Convention on the International Protection of Adults. It will enter into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal, and its measures will then start applying progressively from 24 months later.
Our law firm has dealt with several cases in the past few years in which the lack of a clear framework for recognising cross-border protective measures created obstacles and delay for adults and their families:
- An elderly British client residing in a care home in the UK subjective to a Protective Order. She had given a Lasting Power of Attorney to her children, who need this to be recognised in Italy to sell a property in Sicily.
- An British client who lacked mental capacity residing in a care home in Italy, whose guardian required a UK based bank to recognise the Italian court order to enable the guardian to send funds from the bank account to pay for her care.
Unfortunately this Regulation will not assist in the recognition of protective measures made in non-member States, including the United States or England and Wales, so a Lasting Power of Attorney or a Court of Protection order will not benefit from the new rules. The 2000 Hague Convention will continue to apply in these cases where countries are parties to the Convention. In all other cases private international law rules will still apply.