The purpose of the Special Commission was to review the practical operation of Hague Convention 35 on the International Protection of Adults (concluded 13 January 2000).

On this occasion, Mr Ward drew attention to the 2020 ELI Report on the Protection of Adults in International Situations and the 2022 ELI response to the public consultation by the European Commission on that topic.  He emphasised the importance of ascertaining that documents and certificates from one state, presented in another, provide up-to-date information. He therefore presented the ELI proposal for centralised online access to real-time information.

Participants  also discussed the question of advance choices (advance directives) – a topic on which ELI is considering to start a project.