This book offers an overview of the laws surrounding child abduction within the European Union. The first part of this book critically evaluates the evolution of the separate intra-EU child abduction regime and examines to what extent the EU complied with its standards of good legislative drafting during the negotiations on the Brussels II bis Regulation. It demonstrates that there was no real legal need for the involvement of the EU in the area of child abduction and for the tightening of the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention return mechanism. The second part of the book presents findings of a statistical survey into the operation of child abduction provisions of the Brussels II bis Regulation in the first year of the functioning of the instrument and reveals how effectively the intra-EU return mechanism operated in that year. Based on the findings of the statistical survey, the book identifies and discusses a number of points of concern in respect to the functioning of the new child abduction scheme. Finally, the book investigates whether the Brussels II bis Regulation has added any value in the area of child abduction. (Series: Studies in Private International Law - No. 11)