Hague Choice of Court Convention

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Hague choice of court convention
Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements
Parties (purple) and signatories (green)
Signed30 June 2005[1]
LocationThe Hague, The Netherlands[1]
Effective1 October 2015[2]
Condition2 ratifications/accessions[1]
Signatories9
Parties8:[2]
DepositaryMinistry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
LanguagesEnglish and French

The Hague choice of court convention, formally the Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements, is an international treaty concluded within the Hague Conference on Private International Law. It was concluded in 2005, and entered into force on 1 October 2015. The European Union (covering the European territory of all member states except Denmark), Denmark, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Singapore, Ukraine and the United Kingdom[a] are parties to the convention.[2] Albania, China, Israel, North Macedonia and the United States signed the convention, but did not ratify.

Parties under the convention recognize a choice of court agreement between parties in the field of civil law and thus courts not chosen in the agreement will stay all proceedings, unless the chosen court refuses to uphold the jurisdiction. For the convention choice of court agreements must be "exclusive", which means in the context of the convention that also a group of courts may be chosen, as long as they are in the same country. It is not required for a choice of court agreement to explicitly state that the agreement is exclusive; designating a specific (set of) courts will automatically render it exclusive.

Judgments by the chosen court must be recognized in all states where the convention is applicable.

History[edit]

The Hague Conference started with the "Judgements project" in 1996: the development of a convention regarding jurisdiction and recognition of judgements. Jurisdiction within such a convention would be classified in three categories: bases of jurisdiction which were obligatory, optional or prohibited. As the negotiators were not able to come to a consensus on such a convention, the scope of the work was reduced to jurisdiction and recognition of decisions based on a choice of court agreement between the parties. During the negotiations parallels were drawn between the New York Convention on arbitral awards: the aim was to create a system of recognition of decisions based on court cases where the court was chosen pursuant to a choice of court agreements, which would create the same level of predictability and enforceability as is the case in arbitral awards in New York Convention states.[3]

Parties[edit]

State Signature Ratification/
Accession		 Entry into
force		 Comments
 Albania 13 February 2024
 China 12 September 2017
 Denmark 30 May 2018 1 September 2018 does not apply to certain insurance contracts and to the Faroe Islands and Greenland
 European Union 1 April 2009 11 June 2015 1 October 2015 EU territory of all member states except Denmark, included the UK until 2021;
does not apply to certain insurance contracts
 Israel 3 March 2021
 Mexico 26 September 2007 1 October 2015
 Moldova 14 March 2024 1 July 2024 does not apply to certain insurance contracts
 Montenegro 5 October 2017 18 April 2018 1 August 2018
 North Macedonia 9 December 2019
 Singapore 25 March 2015 2 June 2016 1 October 2016
 Ukraine 21 March 2016 28 April 2023 1 August 2023
 United Kingdom[a] 28 September 2020 1 January 2021 From 1 October 2015 to 31 December 2020 the UK was included in EU membership of the convention.
Includes Gibraltar
 United States 19 January 2009

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c The convention applied to the UK as part of the European Union until Brexit on 1 February 2020, and until 1 January 2021, the European Union membership still encompassed the United Kingdom for this convention. The accession of the UK as a party in its own right, deposited on 2 January 2019, was first suspended and finally retracted on 30 January 2020. In September 2020 it submitted an instrument of accession again.The UK views itself as having been a member since 1 October 2015.[4] The EU Commission has said the Hague Convention only applies to the UK from 1 January 2021.[5][6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c text of the treaty
  2. ^ a b c "Status Table: 37: Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements". HCCH. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  3. ^ Ronald A. Brand; Paul M. Herrup (7 April 2008). The 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements. Cambridge. ISBN 9781139470438.
  4. ^ "The Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments (Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements 2005) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018".
  5. ^ "Paragraph 1.2 of NOTICE TO STAKEHOLDERS: WITHDRAWAL OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AND EU RULES IN THE FIELD OF CIVIL JUSTICE AND PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW" (PDF). 27 August 2020.
  6. ^ "DECLARATION/RESERVATION/NOTIFICATION". Hague Conference on Private International Law. 1 April 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
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