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THE General Judicial Council has recommended that the international law on adoption should include a clause allowing adoption agencies to refuse applications on the grounds of conscience, such as applications by homosexuals.

The report on the draft law, drawn up by Jose Luis Requero, will be delivered to the Commission for Studies and Reports from the General Judicial Council today. It will then be put to a meeting of this organisation before being sent to the Spanish Government.

The “collaborating entities for international adoption” (ECAI), accredited by the autonomous regions, have various powers delegated to them by public authorities and act as mediators in presenting adoption applications to the authorities in the child's country of origin. According to the report, the law should take into account the possibility that an ECAI could refuse to accept applications from some people citing “legitimate personal reservations or clash of ideology with the association or foundation”, without this bringing with it the withdrawal of their accredited status, which would mean that they could not function properly. He added that it is “recommended” that the law expressly includes the possibility to be able to transfer “the application which is generating the conflict” to another ECAI in the same region, or in another region.