6.—(1) In this Part—

F9[‘the Brussels Convention’ means—

(a) the 1968 Convention, and

(b) the Accession Conventions,

as defined in the Act of 1998, and a reference to an Article of the Brussels Convention shall be construed as including a reference to the corresponding Article of the Lugano Convention;]

“central authority of a reciprocating jurisdiction” means—

(a) the central authority of such a jurisdiction which has been designated pursuant to paragraph 1 or, where appropriate, paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Rome Convention, or

(b) an authority of such a jurisdiction with functions corresponding to those exercisable by the Central Authority within the State;

F9[‘the Lugano Convention’ has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 1998;]

“maintenance creditor” includes any body which, under the law of a reciprocating jurisdiction, is entitled to exercise the rights of redress of, or to represent, the creditor;

F10[ ‘reciprocating jurisdiction’ means a Contracting State within the meaning of the Act of 1998 or, as appropriate, a Member State to which the Brussels I Regulation applies or a state bound by the 2007 Lugano Convention;]

“the Rome Convention” means the Convention between the member states of the European Communities on the simplification of procedures for the recovery of maintenance payments done at Rome on the 6th day of November, 1990, the text of which in the English language is set out, for convenience of reference, in the First Schedule to this Act.

(2) F11[(a) The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade may by order declare that any Contracting State (as defined in sections 4(1) or 17(1) of the Act of 1998) or a state bound by the 2007 Lugano Convention specified in the order is a reciprocating jurisdiction.]

(b) An order that is in force under this subsection shall be evidence that any state specified in the order is a reciprocating jurisdiction.

(c) The Minister for Foreign Affairs may by order amend or revoke an order under this subsection.

(3) If a judgment or an instrument or settlement referred to in Article 50 or 51 of the Brussels Convention F12[, Article 57 or 58 of the Brussels I Regulation or Article 57 or 58 of the 2007 Lugano Convention] does not relate solely to maintenance, this Part shall apply only to those parts that relate to maintenance.

(4) A word or expression in this Part which is used in the Rome Convention has the same meaning as it has in that Convention and for this purpose the report by Mr. J. Martin and Mr. C. Ó hUiginn on the Convention, a copy of which has been placed in the Oireachtas Library, may be considered by any court when interpreting such word or expression and shall be given such weight as is appropriate in the circumstances.