Each country that is a party to the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction must designate a Central Authority to implement and enforce orders issued under the Treaty. In countries such as the United States of America, where there are subservient jurisdictions such as California, the contracting country can designate more than one Central Authority. For example at the U.S. Federal level they designate the states as central authorities who in turn designate they subdivsions such as the Los Angeles County District Attorney to be the Central Authority for cases that involve children in Los Angeles County.

The treaty authorizes this at:

Article 6
A Contracting State shall designate a Central Authority to discharge the duties which are imposed by the Convention upon such authorities. Federal States, States with more than one system of law or States having autonomous territorial organisations shall be free to appoint more than one Central Authority and to specify the territorial extent of their powers. Where a State has appointed more than one Central Authority, it shall designate the Central Authority to which applications may be addressed for transmission to the appropriate Central Authority within that State.

As lawyers in Los Angeles County who deal with child custody and child visitation, along with access petitions under the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, our firm has experience working with our central authority. We have also worked with the Central Authority of other counties and countries.