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22 C.F.R. § 96.19   Special provision for agencies and persons seeking to be accredited or approved as of the time the Convention enters into force for the United States.

Title 22: Foreign Relations
PART 96—ACCREDITATION OF AGENCIES AND APPROVAL OF PERSONS UNDER THE INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION ACT OF 2000 (IAA)
Subpart D—Application Procedures for Accreditation and Approval

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§ 96.19   Special provision for agencies and persons seeking to be accredited or approved as of the time the Convention enters into force for the United States.

(a) The Secretary will establish and announce, by public notice in the Federal Register, a transitional application deadline. An agency or person seeking to be accredited or approved as of the time the Convention enters into force for the United States must submit an application to an accrediting entity with jurisdiction to evaluate its application, with the required fee(s), by the transitional application deadline. The Secretary will subsequently establish and announce a date by which such agencies and persons must complete the accreditation or approval process in time to be accredited or approved at the time the Convention enters into force for the United States (deadline for initial accreditation or approval).

(b) The accrediting entity must use its best efforts to provide a reasonable opportunity for an agency or person that applies by the transitional application deadline to complete the accreditation or approval process by the deadline for initial accreditation or approval. Only those agencies and persons that are accredited or approved by the deadline for initial accreditation or approval will be included on the initial list of accredited agencies and approved persons that the Secretary will deposit with the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

(c) The accrediting entity may, in its discretion, permit an agency or person that fails to submit an application by the transitional application deadline to attempt to complete the accreditation or approval process in time to be included on the initial list; however, such an agency or person is not assured an opportunity to complete the accreditation or approval process in time to be included on the initial list. The accrediting entity must give priority to applicants that filed by the transitional application deadline. If such an agency or person succeeds in completing the accreditation or approval process in time to be included on the initial list, it will be treated as an agency or person that applied by the transitional application deadline for the purposes of §96.58 and §96.60(b).