8 MENNESSON v. FRANCE JUDGMENT 2014, indicating that the request “was still being processed in [his] department pending a reply to the request for authentication sent to the consulate of Los Angeles, California”. ... THE LAW I. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 8 OF THE CONVENTION 43. The applicants complained that, to the detriment of the children’s best interests, they were unable to obtain recognition in France of the legal parent-child relationship lawfully established abroad between the first two applicants and the third and fourth applicants born abroad as the result of a surrogacy agreement. They complained of a violation of the right to respect for their private and family life guaranteed by Article 8 of the Convention as follows: “1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. 2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.” ... B. The merits 1. Whether there has been an interference 48. It is not in dispute between the parties that the refusal of the French authorities to legally recognise the family tie between the applicants amounts to an “interference” in their right to respect for their family life and accordingly raises an issue with regard to the negative obligations of the respondent State under Article 8 rather than their positive obligations. 49. The Court agrees, reiterating that this was its approach in, among other cases, Wagner and J.M.W.L. (no. 76248/01, § 123, 28 June 2007) and Negrepontis-Giannisis v. Greece (no. 56759/08, § 58, 3 May 2011), which concerned the refusal of the Luxembourg and Greek courts respectively to recognise legally an adoption that had been established in foreign judgments. It specifies that, as in those cases, there has been an interference