These regulations make supplemental provision for the recognition in England and Wales and Northern Ireland of dissolutions and annulments of civil partnerships and the legal separation of civil partners obtained abroad. This is in addition to the provision made in sections 234 to 237 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004.

Regulation 2 provides for countries comprising two or more territories which have different systems of law in relation to this subject matter. It ensures that such territories are treated for recognition purposes as countries. It is analogous to section 49 of the Family Law Act 1986, Part II of which deals with the recognition of divorces, nullity of marriage and the legal separation of married parties.

Regulation 3 provides for situations where section 235 of the 2004 Act would be insufficient to ensure the proper recognition of the validity of certain overseas dissolutions etc. because one or both of the civil partners is either habitually resident or domiciled in a country or territory whose law does not recognise legal relationships between people of the same sex.

Regulations 4,5 and 6 provide respectively for the recognition of certain dissolutions etc. obtained in cross-proceedings, the recognition of certain dissolutions obtained following the conversion of legal separations and the facilitation of the proof of certain facts relevant to recognition and established in the earlier proceedings abroad. These provisions are analogous to section 47(1) and (2) and section 48 of the 1986 Act.