The Council of Europe has been holding colloquies on European Law since 1969. Some of them have been devoted to the family law (IVth Colloquy: Vienna, 1974 "Legal representation and custody of minors"; XI Colloquy: Messina, 1981 "Legal problems concerning unmarried couples"; XXIIIth Colloquy, Amsterdam, 1993 "Transsexualism, medicine and law";). The last one was the XXVII Colloquy on European Law on the theme "Legal problems relating to parentage" (Malta, 1997).