Joint Position and Red Lines for Trilogue on the Proposed Regulation on Protection of Adults in Cross-Border Situations

The full text of the position paper is available in pdf here and in word here

March 2026

This document was prepared jointly by the European Disability Forum, the EuropeanNetwork on Independent Living,Inclusion Europe,Mental Health Europeand AGEPlatform Europe. It is also endorsed by the European Council of Autistic People.  

It provides our position and red line for the trilogue negotiations on the Regulation. 

Executive Summary

Our organisations have recognised the importance of conflict of laws legislation as a means to provide legal certainty, avoid gaps and promote the uniform application of substantive international law, including in the EU, while deeply regretting that the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on Protection of Adults in Cross-BorderSituations included provisions which did not align with international human rights law and would lead to violations of the rights older people and persons with disabilities living in the EU. 

We welcome the efforts of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU to better align the text with theUN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities(CRPD), ratified by the EU and all its Member States. 

In particular, we welcome the agreement between the European Parliament and the Council to incorporate supported decision-making measures and power of representation within the scope of the Regulation and the decision and not to pursue the introduction of protection registers any further. There is agreement to delete article 3(12) and articles 45, 46, 47 and 48 from the Regulation.  A centralised electronic storage of “measures” concerning the institutionalization or deprivation of legal capacity of individuals would have led to a serious breach of the principle of data minimization expressed in the General Data Protection Regulation and the obligation to protect the privacy of persons with disabilities established in the CRPD. Our recommendations for trilogue’s negotiations aim to ensure that the final text of the Regulation protects the rights of autonomy and legal capacity of all adults concerned, and ensure and promote compliance with the CRPD, supporting EU Member States in its implementation.  

We call on the EU institutions and all EU Member States to promote and protect the rights of all, in line with the CRPD, recalling their commitments made in the CouncilConclusions on the Protection of Vulnerable Adults across the European Unionadopted in 2021.

We call on the negotiators to: 

1. Ensure the protection of people’s rights by recognising and focusing on supported decision-making measures and mechanisms
   
   

• Amend article 2 on the scope to ensure the concepts of the 2000 Hague Convention are adjusted to the CPRD-based legal order of the European Union to focus cross-border recognition of supported decision-making measures and powers of representation.
  
  

• Amend article 3 on definition, including introducing definitions of support (2a new) and of protection (2b new) which are becoming key terms that so far remain undefined under article 3 in the texts proposed by both the Parliament and the Council. Revise the definition, for “powers of representation” to reflect the concept contained in the CRPD.
  
  
• Include articles 7a, 8a and 12a on support measures, as proposed by the European Parliament, to ensure better compliance with the CRPD and EU Charter on Fundamental Rights.
  
  
• Amend article 10 on grounds for refusal of recognition to ensure high level of protection of the autonomy of adults by allowing Member States to refuse the recognition of the measures when adults did not have a genuine and effective opportunity to be heard or if it is known or suspected that their will and preference were not respected, as proposed by the European Parliament.
  
  
• Amend articles 34, 35, 37 and 38 related to the certificate of representation to focus on support and representation, and ensure that the adults concerned can request the certificate and that it is available in an accessible format, as proposed by the Council and the European Parliament.
  
  

2. Guarantee that cross-border placements measures are only possible when they are based on the choice, autonomy and support of the persons and that they do not apply to placement of persons with disabilities in institutions

• Amend article 21 on placement which currently violates the fundamental rights of persons with disabilities, so as to only allow placement measures that comply with the rights and autonomy of the persons concerned, in line with the Parliament’s position. To be in line with the objective to comply with the CRPD (as set out in the recitals) cross-border coordination on placements must never be applied to persons with disabilities. Cross-border coordination must exclusively take place when it comes to living and support arrangements, such as personal assistance.
  
  

3. Ensuring the privacy of citizens covered by the Regulation
   
   

• Maintain the deletion of Chapter VIII (articles 45, 46, 47 and 48) on the establishment of protection registers which violate the privacy of citizens and give disproportionate means of control to authorities, in line with the Council and Parliament’s positions.
  
  

• Amend article 3 on definition to delete reference to ‘system of interconnection’ and ‘protection register’, in line with the Council and Parliament’s positions.
  
  

• Include an article 29a on cooperation for pre-authorised data sharing of information related to support in decision-making or power of representation, at the request of the person receiving support or the representative/support person to facilitate efficient cross-border collaboration. Recitals of the proposal should accordingly be revised based on the CRPD and how it should be interpreted in relation to the 2000 Convention on the international protection of adults and the Regulation.

This document focuses on key articles and our red lines for the negotiations. It does not include proposed text for the recitals.


Elements highlighted in yellow constitute proposals of compromise and additions to strengthen the text, that we wish to particularly bring to the attention of the negotiators.


The full text of the position paper is available in pdf here and in word here