Tuesday 30 October 2012

Hague Conference Resumes Work on its Judgment Convention



             The Hague Conference on Private International Law has announced that it plans to resume work on its long moribund Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (the Judgment Convention).  Only five countries have ever ratified or acceded to this convention, which was concluded in 1971 and came into force in 1979.   

            The need for such a convention remains as great as ever.  Several countries that are prominent in international trade do not recognize foreign judgments except on a reciprocal basis, including the People’s Republic of China.

At the fall meeting of the International Section of the ABA held earlier this month,  Prof. Louise Ellen Teitz of the Hague Conference announced that work on the Judgment Convention is to resume.  Attention will be given to the provisions regarding the procedures for enforcement. 

Current projects at the Hague Conference include one pertaining to draft principles on choice of law in commercial contracts.