European Union – Recognition and enforcement of. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling deciding, among other things, that Chapter IV of Council Regulation (EC) No 4/2009, in particular art 41(1) thereof, should be interpreted as meaning that a maintenance creditor who had obtained an order in one member state and wished to enforce it in another member state could make an application directly to the competent authority of the latter member state, such as a specialised court, and could not be required to submit the application to that court through the central authority of the member state of enforcement.