Published on 20 February 2024 in Client Alerts
The Hague Judgments Convention establishes a uniform framework for the mutual recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments within its member States. Although many States contain domestic laws on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, these rules are not uniform. As a result, businesses seeking to enforce the decisions of courts in foreign jurisdictions often face delays, high costs and uncertainty. The Convention applies to the recognition and enforcement of civil judgments from foreign jurisdictions but provides a host of exclusions including matters concerning family law, insolvency, defamation, and anti-trust issues. Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments may be refused for reasons including improper notification of the claim, fraud, inconsistency with earlier judgments in the State of origin or the recognising State and issues of public policy. Additionally, enforcement may be postponed if parties have commenced appellate proceedings in the State of origin.
The Hague Judgments Convention has been welcomed by businesses in the UK, especially as judgments could no longer be mutually recognised between the UK and EU under the Brussels I Regulation and the Lugano Convention following Brexit. Although the UK has ratified the Hague Convention of 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements, this Convention only applies when parties have an exclusive consent-to-jurisdiction clause in their contracts.
In the brief 60 years of space flight, humanity has sent over 60,000 space objects and 1 million pieces of smaller debris into orbit around the planet. This has created the risk of a legal and physical log-jam in space. The congestion and space-junk problems are projected to become even more acute as the space race broadens its participants.
Learn moreDuring the 29th annual session of the International Seabed Authority (“ISA”), Malta, Tuvalu, Honduras, Guatemala and Austria declared their support for a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining. To date, now over thirty States have called for a halt in the exploitation of the deep seabed minerals. These calls come as the ISA struggles to adopt a final set of regulations on mining exploitation.
Learn moreOn 30 May 2024, the European Council adopted decisions enabling the European Union (“EU”) to denounce (the proper international law term for ‘withdraw from’) the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT”).
Learn moreThe COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant gaps in the global health system, leading to immense human and economic losses. In response, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) and its member States decided to draft a comprehensive international treaty—the Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Accord.
Learn more