Hague Choice of Court Convention

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, Singapore and the United Kingdom[lower-alpha 1] are parties to the convention.[2] China, North Macedonia, Ukraine and the United States signed the convention, but did not ratify.

Hague choice of court convention
parties (purple) and signatories (green)
Signed30 June 2005[1]
LocationThe Hague, The Netherlands[1]
Effective1 October 2015[2]
Condition2 ratifications/accessions[1]
Signatories7
Parties6 (Denmark, European Union (excluding Denmark, including the UK), Mexico, Montenegro, and Singapore[lower-alpha 1])[2]
DepositaryMinistry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
LanguagesEnglish and French

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

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
StateSignatureRatification/AccessionEntry into forceComments
 China12 September 2017
 Denmark30 May 20181 September 2018does not apply to certain insurance contracts and to the Faroe Islands and Greenland
 European Union1 April 200911 June 20151 October 2015EU territory of all member states except Denmark, included the UK until 2021;
does not apply to certain insurance contracts
 Mexico26 September 20071 October 2015
 Montenegro5 October 201718 April 20181 August 2018
 North Macedonia9 December 2019
 Singapore25 March 20152 June 20161 October 2016
 Ukraine21 March 2016
 United Kingdom[lower-alpha 1]28 September 20201 January 2021Presently included in EU membership of the convention.
Includes Gibraltar
 United States19 January 2009

See also

Notes
  1. 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.[4]

References
  1. text of the treaty
  2. "Status Table: 37: Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements". HCCH. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  3. Ronald A. Brand and Paul M. Herrup. The 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements. Cambridge.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  4. "DECLARATION/RESERVATION/NOTIFICATION". Hague Conference on Private International Law. 1 April 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
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