Tasmanian Consolidated Acts Tasmanian Consolidated Acts
(1) For the purposes of the law of Tasmania, the adoption of a person, whether before or after the commencement of this section, in a non-convention or non-agreement country that is an adoption to which this section applies, has, so long as it has not been rescinded under the law of that country, the same effect as an adoption order made under this Act.
(2) This section applies to an adoption in a non-convention or non-agreement country if –
(a) the adoption was effective according to the law of that country; and
(b) that country was the usual place of residence of each of the adoptive parents at the time of the commencement of the legal proceedings that resulted in the adoption and for a continuous period of a least 12 months before that time; and
(c) in consequence of the adoption, the adoptive parents had, or would (if the adopted person had been a young child) have had, immediately following the adoption, according to the law of that country, a right superior to that of any natural parent of the adopted person in respect of the custody of the adopted person; and
(d) under the law of that country the adoptive parents were, by the adoption, placed generally in the position of parents in relation to the adopted person.
(3) The production of a document purporting to be the original or a certified copy of an order or record of adoption made by a court or a judicial or public authority in a non-convention or non-agreement country shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be sufficient evidence –
(a) that the adoption was made in that country and is effective according to the law of that country; and
(b) that the adoption has not been rescinded.
(4) Notwithstanding this section, a court, including the Supreme Court hearing an application under section 61, may refuse to recognize an adoption as being an adoption to which this section applies if it appears to the court that the procedure followed, or the law applied, in connection with the adoption involved a denial of natural justice or did not comply with the requirements of substantial justice.
(5) Where, in any proceedings before a court, including the Supreme Court hearing an application under section 61, the question arises whether an adoption is one to which this section applies, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary appears from the evidence, that the adoption complies with the requirements of subsection (2) and has not been rescinded.
(6) Except as provided in this section, the adoption of a person, whether before or after the commencement of this section, in a non-convention or non-agreement country does not have effect for the purposes of the law of Tasmania.
(7) Nothing in this section affects any right that was acquired by, or became vested in, a person before the commencement of the repealed Act.