
FAMIMOVE 3.0 is an international project co-funded by the European Commission under the JUST-2025-JCOO program. The project’s full name is Families on the Move: The Coordination between international family law and migration law.
This project seeks to build on the results of FAMIMOVE 2.0 by focusing on children on the move in vulnerable situations and by consolidating the networks already established of experts in family law, child protection and migration law. It involves 7 universities in 6 EU Member States.
The duration of the project is two years from 1 March 2026 to 29 February 2028.
The Consortium is coordinated by Prof. Marta Pertegás Sender (Maastricht University) and is comprised of the following partners: Prof. Thalia Kruger (Antwerp University), Prof. Orsolya Szeibert (Eötvös Loránd University), Prof. Ellen Desmet (Ghent University), Prof. Ulf Maunsbach (Lund University), Prof. Carlos Esplugues (University of Valencia) and Prof. Fabienne Jault (University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines). They will be supported by colleagues with expertise in these fields from their universities and beyond.
As indicated in the project summary, “FAMIMOVE’s general objective is to contribute to the effective and coherent application of the EU acquis in the field of international family law, in particular by ensuring more awareness of international child protection instruments applicable to migrant children […].” In particular, FAMIMOVE 3.0 “intends to map the measures for the protection of children in 6 EU MS in family law and their interaction with migration law. In addition, it will put in place three transnational sub-projects relating to the portability of civil status documents (with a focus on statelessness and the age of the child), the interrelationship between international child abduction and migration law, and the protection of Ukrainian children in the EU.”
As part of this project, interviews will be conducted with Ukrainian children in order for them to express their views, which will be duly taken into account, and to fully participate in the results of the project in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
As indicated, FAMIMOVE 3.0 is a spin-off of earlier projects with the same name, namely FAMIMOVE 2.0 and FAMIMOVE. The website of FAMIMOVE 2.0 is still operational. To view it, click here. One of the main achievements of this project is the book entitled Children in Migration and International Family Law: The Child’s Best Interests Principle at the Interface of Migration Law and Family Law and may be consulted here. We have previously posted on this project here and here.
FAMIMOVE resulted in two insightful documents published by the European Parliament: Children on the Move: A Private International Law Perspective and Private International Law in a Context of Increasing International Mobility: Challenges and Potential.
Any new development will be published here – stay tuned.
Views and opinions expressed in this project are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
The following call was kindly shared with us by Michiel Poesen (University of Aberdeen).
This is a call for papers and panels for the Private International Law subject section at the SLS Annual Conference 2026. This year, the annual conference will take place at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. The conference dates are: 2-4 September 2026.
The Private International Law section will meet in the first half of the conference on 2-3 September, and we can run up to four sessions, each lasting 90 minutes.?Doctoral students are very welcome and are encouraged to submit papers for consideration in the Subject Sections Programme. The conference theme is Doing Law Differently, but the Private International Law Subject Section welcomes paper and panel proposals on any topics connected to our discipline.
Conference Information
The 2026 conference at UEA will be fully in-person. This decision reflects a move globally to resume in person conferences, as well as the significant costs surrounding the delivery of a fully virtual attendance. However, it will be possible for members of the SLS to register to view the plenary sessions at the conference online. Furthermore, Council members who are not attending the 2026 Conference will still be able to attend the Council meeting and AGM virtually?and, consistent with our EDI priorities, speakers who cannot attend may, on sufficient notice, be able to present virtually. We will also endeavour to allow speakers unable to attend at the last minute due to ill-health or travel restrictions to present virtually. We continue to offer support for attendance via our Annual Conference Additional Support Fund (ASF) to support those with special circumstances warranting additional support. Priority for support will be given to applicants who have no other source of funding.
Submitting through Oxford Abstracts
If you are interested in delivering a paper or organising a panel, please submit your paper abstract or panel details by 11:59pm UK time on Friday 27 March 2026. All abstracts and panel details must be submitted through the Oxford Abstracts conference system which can be accessed here – and following the instructions (select ‘Track’ for the relevant subject section). If you registered for Oxford Abstracts for last year’s conference, please ensure that you use the same email address this year (if that address remains current). For those whose papers are accepted, the original submission offers the facility to upload a full paper nearer the time. If you experience any issues in using Oxford Abstracts, please contact slsconference@mosaicevents.co.uk.
This is the fourth year we will be running first blind peer review, with a subsequent non-blind review once initial decisions have been made to consider profile diversity before final decisions are made and communicated. The feedback from convenors on this process has been very positive. We intend to communicate decisions on acceptance by Friday 8 May 2026.
Submission Format
We welcome proposals representing a full range of intellectual perspectives and methodological approaches in the Private International Law subject section, and from those at all stages of their careers.
Those wishing to present a paper should submit a title and abstract of around 300 words. Those wishing to propose a panel should submit a document outlining the theme and rationale for the panel and the names of the proposed speakers (who must have agreed to participate) and their abstracts.?Sessions are 90 minutes in length. Those proposing panels should include up to three speakers per panel (though the conference organisers reserve the right to add speakers to panels in the interests of balance and diversity).
As the SLS is keen to ensure that as many members with good quality papers as possible can present, speakers should not present twice at the conference at the expense of another credible paper.?The general expectation is that authors will submit no more than one single and/or one co-authored paper. There should be a maximum of 3 speakers per paper. For papers with more than 3 authors, the authors should consider submitting a panel. Submissions with multiple authors should clearly identify non-speaking and speaking authors. When you submit an abstract via Oxford Abstracts you will be asked to note if you are also responding to calls for papers or panels from other sections.
The Best Paper Prize
Please also note that the SLS offers two prizes. First, The Best Paper Prize, which can be awarded to academics at any stage of their career, and which is open to those presenting papers individually or within a panel.? The Prize carries a £300 monetary award, and the winning paper will, subject to the usual process of review and publisher’s conditions, appear in Legal Studies.
To be eligible for the Best Paper Prize :
In 2020, the Society launched the Best Paper by a Doctoral Student Prize, which is open to currently registered doctoral students who are members of the Society. The Prize is £300. There is no link to publication in Legal Studies arising from this award, but any winner would be welcome to submit their paper for consideration by the Society’s journal.
To be eligible for the Best Paper by a Doctoral Student Prize:
Registration and paying for the conference
We have also been asked to remind you that all speakers will need to book and pay to attend the conference and that they will need to register for the conference by Friday 19 June 2026 to secure their place within the programme, though please do let us know if this deadline is likely to pose any problems for you.?Booking information will be circulated in due course and will open after the decisions on the response to the calls are made. Understanding the challenges faced by higher education, the SLS will keep ticket prices at 2025 rates for the 2026 conference.
With best wishes,
Dr Michiel Poesen
Dr Patricia Živkovi?
Co-convenors of the Private International Law section
Written by Dr Priskila Pratita Penasthika, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Universitas Indonesia
INTRODUCTION
The Indonesian Personal Data Protection Law, Law Number 27 of 2022 (Indonesian PDP Law), came into effect on 17 October 2022. Before its enactment, data protection rules in Indonesia were fragmented across different sector-specific laws and regulations. The Indonesian PDP Law aims to unify these laws and regulations, providing greater clarity and ensuring consistent personal data protection across all sectors in the country. The Indonesian PDP Law sets out normative provisions on personal data protection; however, detailed, practical rules have yet to be specified in the implementing regulations. As of now, the drafting of these implementing regulations is still underway.
Many of the fundamental elements of the Indonesian PDP Law, including definitions of covered data and entities, lawful grounds, processing obligations, accountability measures, and relationships between data controllers and processors, are modelled after the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Nonetheless, several key provisions are tailored specifically to the Indonesian context. For instance, the Indonesian PDP Law has broad extraterritorial reach, which shall apply to entities insofar as their personal data processing activities have legal implications within Indonesia or pertain to an Indonesian national data subject outside Indonesian jurisdiction.
To date, there have been five decisions by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (Mahkamah Konstitusi Republik Indonesia) concerning the Indonesian Personal Data Protection Law. Briefly, the Indonesian Constitutional Court functions as one of Indonesia’s apex judicial authorities, alongside the Supreme Court. Its primary jurisdiction involves the constitutional review of enacted laws (undang-undang) in Indonesia to assess their conformity with the 1945 Indonesian Constitution (as lastly amended in 2002), thereby safeguarding the constitutional rights therein. Its decisions are final, legally binding, and possess immediate legal effect upon issuance, with no provisions for appeal or annulment by any other institutional body.
This piece will focus on the most recent ruling by the Constitutional Court issued on 19 January 2026 regarding the Indonesian PDP Law, namely Case Number 137/PUU-XXIII/2025, as it pertains to matters within private international law.
FACTS
The Petitioner mainly requests a constitutional review of Article 56 of the Indonesian PDP Law, which specifies the requirements for cross-border personal data transfers. Article 56 delineates a tiered set of prerequisites for such transfers. A personal data controller responsible for transmitting personal data abroad (data exporter) must verify that the recipient country offers an adequate or higher level of personal data protection than that provided by the Indonesian PDP Law. If this requirement is not met, the data exporter must ensure that sufficient and binding data protections are in place in the recipient country. If neither condition is satisfied, the data exporter is obliged to obtain consent from the data subject prior to transferring personal data abroad. Furthermore, the forthcoming implementing regulations are expected to provide further details on the specific requirements for cross-border data transfers.
The petition was initiated with the briefing announcement issued by the White House on 22 July 2025 concerning the Framework for Negotiating a Reciprocal Trade Agreement between Indonesia and the United States of America (Indonesia-USA Reciprocal Trade Agreement Negotiation Framework). As part of this framework, Indonesia has committed to establishing legal certainty regarding the ability to transfer personal data outside its borders to the United States.
The Petitioner argued that the Indonesia-USA Reciprocal Trade Agreement Negotiation Framework has led to a key interpretation of Article 56 of the Indonesian PDP Law concerning the transfer of citizens’ personal data beyond Indonesian borders. The Petitioner maintained that, under a strict interpretive approach, the PDP Law allows data controllers to assess the adequacy requirement independently, without parliamentary oversight. This could potentially weaken democratic accountability and expose personal data vulnerable to misuse. Additionally, the Petitioner emphasised that such commitments should require approval from the House of Representatives, as they directly impact national sovereignty and the protection of citizens.
The foundation of the Petitioner’s petition is based on Article 28G, paragraph (1) of the 1945 Indonesian Constitution, which protects citizens’ rights to their dignity, family, honour, and property, as well as the right to be free from threats to their fundamental rights. Additionally, the Petitioner referred to Article 11 of the 1945 Indonesian Constitution, which confers authority on the House of Representatives and the President to conclude international agreements.
Therefore, the Petitioner requests that the Constitutional Court interpret the provisions of Article 56 of the Indonesian PDP Law to mean that transferring personal data to jurisdictions such as the United States should occur only if there is an international agreement approved by the Indonesian House of Representatives. Moreover, transfers to countries considered to lack adequate personal data protection standards should take place only with the consent of the data subjects, after informing them of the risks involved in the cross-border transfers of their personal data.
CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DECISION
The Constitutional Court rejected all of the Petitioner’s petition and arguments. According to the Court, the cross-border transfer of personal data constitutes part of the administrative and technical measures carried out by the executive branch, rather than an agreement between nations that creates rights and obligations in the domains of politics, defence, or sovereignty. Based on this reasoning, the Court affirmed that there is no constitutional obligation to involve the Indonesian House of Representatives in any cross-border data transfer process, including in determining the adequacy decision regarding such a personal data transfer.
Regarding the adequacy decision, the Court held that the personal data controller (data exporter) shall undertake technical verification procedures to ascertain whether the recipient country of the personal data transfer maintains data protection standards that are adequate or even higher than those provided in the Indonesian PDP Law. Furthermore, the Court pointed out that cross-border personal data transfers do not rely solely on the personal data controller to ensure adequacy or higher protection standards in the recipient country. Instead, it also necessitates the existence and active involvement of the Personal Data Protection Authority (PDPA), as prescribed in Articles 58-61 of the Indonesian PDP Law. The PDPA is tasked with overseeing, evaluating, and implementing technical policy measures to ensure compliance with requirements for cross-border personal data transfers. Nevertheless, it is important to note that such authority has yet to be established.
REMARKS
Despite the Constitutional Court’s rejection of the petition, Case Number 137/PUU-XXIII/2025 brings to light persistent concerns regarding the Indonesian PDP Law, particularly its provisions on cross-border personal data transfers. These issues call for further discussion and highlight the pressing need to pass the implementing regulations and establish the PDPA.
First, clarification is required regarding the party responsible for conducting cross-border transfers of personal data. Article 56 of the Indonesian PDP Law exclusively employs the term ‘personal data controller’ (pengendali data pribadi) in the context of cross-border data transfers, which seems to imply that only personal data controllers are authorised to carry out such transfers.
Second, it is necessary to delineate which countries are recognised as having adequate or higher levels of personal data protection. In this context, Article 60(f) of the Indonesian PDP Law provides that the PDPA is empowered to assess whether the requirements for cross-border personal data transfers are satisfied. The significant role of the PDPA in cross-border personal data transfer is also emphasised by the Constitutional Court Judges in Case Number 137/PUU-XXIII/2025. Since the PDPA has not yet been established or designated to date, this situation underscores the urgent need to set up or appoint such an authority.
Third, the forthcoming implementing regulations of the Indonesian PDP Law are expected to clarify issues surrounding cross-border personal data transfers, including the incorporation of whitelists and blacklists of specific jurisdictions, standardised contractual language, and specific data processing activities such as pseudonymisation and encryption. It is also presumed that the personal data controller and the forthcoming PDPA will be required to report to the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Digital regarding cross-border transfers of personal data.
Fourth, as set out at the outset of this piece, the Indonesian PDP Law has an extensive extraterritorial scope. In the event of a personal data breach involving cross-border transfer of personal data, any individuals, corporations, public entities, and international organisations—irrespective of their origin or residence—whether functioning as personal data controllers or processors, may be considered potential defendants for violations that affect the rights of an Indonesian data subject. Referring to Article 2 of the Indonesian PDP Law, this applicability is contingent upon the occurrence of their misconduct (1) within the jurisdiction of Indonesia or (2) outside of Indonesia, provided that such misconduct results in legal consequences (a) within the Indonesian jurisdiction or (b) impacting an Indonesian personal data subject outside of Indonesian territory.
The subsequent issue concerns the court’s jurisdiction. As no cross-border data protection litigation has occurred in Indonesia to date, the court’s position in this matter remains indeterminate. Nevertheless, Indonesian courts are notorious for their indifference and insularity when addressing foreign-related issues. Furthermore, Indonesian civil procedural law does not specify provisions regarding parallel litigation. Consequently, in case of parallel proceedings concerning a cross-border data transfer dispute, it is likely that the Indonesian court would exercise jurisdiction and proceed with the legal proceeding in Indonesia, notwithstanding the existence of an ongoing legal proceeding involving the same dispute and parties in a foreign court.
If proceedings are conducted in a foreign court, the complexities of the issues may increase. Indonesia maintains a stringent stance that a foreign judgment is not enforceable unless it pertains to damages arising from marine salvage. Any foreign, other than those on damages resulting from marine salvage, must undergo re-examination by an Indonesian court. In light of this stance, it is apparent that Indonesian courts would not recognise or enforce foreign judgments concerning cross-border personal data transfer disputes and would require such disputes to be relitigated before an Indonesian court.
Practical challenges also include the complexities of seizing assets or digital evidence located in foreign jurisdictions, given that Indonesia has not yet acceded to the HCCH 1970 Evidence Convention.
Further details concerning the Indonesian PDP Law and its private international law aspects are available in Priskila Pratita Penasthika, “Chapter 12 – Indonesia” in Adrian Mak, Ching Him Ho, and Anselmo Reyes (eds.), Privacy and Personal Data Protection Law in Asia (Hart Publishing, 12 December 2024).
On Friday 29 May 2026 in Groningen, the Netherlands, Dr. Benedikt Schmitz from the University of Groningen is hosting a larger symposium on the topic of “Digitalisation of Justice: Perspectives from Germany and the Netherlands”
Theme
This event brings together leading and upcoming scholars to explore how digital transformation – from AI in adjudication to fully online proceedings – is reshaping our legal systems, while raising important questions about access to justice, procedural fairness, and the rule of law.
Programme
The full programme can be found on the conference website: https://weakerparties.eu/events/digitalisation-of-justice/
Time and Venue
Registration
En présence d’un ensemble de pratiques commerciales déloyales similaires, une législation nationale peut-elle retenir une qualification d’infraction unique, ce qui conduit à l’infliction d’une seule amende dont le montant est plafonné ? Telle est la question préjudicielle à laquelle la Cour de justice devait répondre à la suite de sa saisine par une juridiction autrichienne. La décision rendue à cette occasion est particulièrement intéressante, puisqu’elle permet de revenir sur l’articulation des droits européen et nationaux. On y apprend que, si une autorité nationale peut librement qualifier plusieurs pratiques similaires d’infraction unique, c’est à la condition que cette qualification, par les conséquences qu’elle entraîne, n’entrave pas la répression des fautes lucratives commises par l’infracteur.
La rédaction de Dalloz actualité fait une petite pause la semaine du 23 février.
A new issue of ZEuP – Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht is now available and includes contributions on EU private law, comparative law and legal history, legal unification, private international law, and individual European private law regimes. The full table of content can be accessed here: https://rsw.beck.de/zeitschriften/zeup.
The following contributions might be of particular interest for the readers of this blog:
Ignacio Tirado: UNIDROIT on the Occasion of Its (first) 100 Years
In the editorial, UNIDROIT on the Occasion of Its (First) 100 Years, Ignacio Tirado, Secretary General of UNIDROIT, traces the organisation’s origins and evolution, reflects on how it has navigated a turbulent century, and offers thoughts on how its centenary should be celebrated and what lies ahead for the Institute.
Wolfgang Wurmnest und Marie-Sophie Pillin: Der Data Act: Ein punktuelles europäisches Vertragsrecht für den Zugang und die Nutzung von Daten
Wolfgang Wurmnest and Marie-Sophie Pillin on Der Data Act: Ein punktuelles europäisches Vertragsrecht für den Zugang und die Nutzung von Daten highlights key private law provisions of the European Data Act. It analyzes the relationship between data controllers, users, and recipients, which in future will primarily be governed by contracts. In addition, the paper examines the new European rules on unfair contract terms.
Christian Kohler, Marlene Brosch, Jean-Christophe Puffer-Mariette: Unionsrecht und Privatrecht: Zur Rechtsprechung des EuGH im Jahre 2024
In Unionsrecht und Privatrecht: Zur Rechtsprechung des EuGH im Jahre 2024, Christian Kohler, Marlene Brosch and Jean-Christophe Puffer-Mariette offer an overview of numerous judgments of the ECJ in 2024 that are relevant to private law. Particularly noteworthy are decisions on the effects of Union citizenship and the enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation as well as numerous judgments on consumer protection directives. A number of issues relating to the prohibition of discrimination and market freedoms have also been decided; judgments on copyright are equally worth mentioning.
Susanne Gössl: Das „Anerkennungsprinzip“ und das Internationale Recht der Geschlechtszugehörigkeit nach „Mirin“
Susanne Gössl on Das „Anerkennungsprinzip“ und das Internationale Recht der Geschlechtszugehörigkeit nach „Mirin“ comments on the recent ECJ decision of 4 October 2024, C-4/23 – Mirin regarding gender identity. The note explores how the Court strengthens the portability of a lawfully acquired gender identity within the EU, the limits of public policy objection, the treatment of non-binary gender entries, and the broader consequences of Mirin for the acceptance of a personal status in EU private international law. Finally, it assesses the repercussions of the judgment for German law.
For those interested in the EU’s sustainability framework, the article by Moritz Böbel, Ronjini Ray, and Marc-Philippe Weller on Die EU-Entwaldungsverordnung und ihre Auswirkungen auf den Globalen Süden am Beispiel von Indien provides an analysis of the EU’s deforestation regulation and its impacts on the Global South, focusing on India.
The thirty-ninth annual survey on choice of law in the American courts is now available on SSRN. The survey covers significant cases decided in 2025 on choice of law, party autonomy, extraterritoriality, international human rights, foreign sovereign immunity, adjudicative jurisdiction, and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.
The cases discussed in this year’s survey address (among other things) the situs of cryptocurrency, exploding batteries in e-cigarettes, the sale of an antique military tank, the validity of an Urfi marriage ceremony, whether the Hague Service Convention prohibits email service on defendants in China, the enforcement of a Philippine forfeiture judgment, and claims of expropriation by German authorities during the Soviet occupation after World War II.
This annual survey was admirably maintained by Symeon Symeonides for three decades. The present authors are pleased to have extended this tradition.
Yesterday, the Project Report of the ELI Project “Enhancing Child Protection: Private International Law on Filiation and the European Commission’s Proposal COM/2022/695 final”
It contains constructive amendments to the original Commission’s Parenthood Proposal and intends to bring it more in line with the acquis and general considerations of EU PIL. Furthermore, it puts the best interest of the child in the focus of the analysis.
For a short background: In December 2022, the EU Commission published the Proposal for a Regulation on Private International Law Rules Relating to Parenthood (COM (2022) 695 fin). An analysis of the original proposal can be found, e.g., here.
Shortly afterwards, at the European Law Institute (ELI), a project group was established (led by Dr. Ilaria Pretelli and me). The following report, which proposes amendments to the initial Commission’s Proposal, was approved by the ELI Council in September 2025 and the ELI Membership in January 2026. The report was published yesterday and is available online here.
The Report examines the Commission Proposal and its critical role in advancing fundamental rights within the EU. While preserving the Commission’s Proposal’s core vision and framework, this analysis recommends strategic refinements that strengthen alignment with the existing EU acquis, foster deeper European integration, and enhance the protection of children’s fundamental rights. In addition, it expands upon the Proposal’s initial emphasis on the EU Strategies for children’s rights and LGBTIQA+ equality by incorporating a comprehensive women’s rights perspective.
If you are interested in the Report or the Proposal and like academic discussions about the subject, there will be a webinar on March 12, 2026, from 12:30-14:00 CET.
Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer