17/07/2024

The Hague-19 Convention and international disputes: Is it ‘back to the future’ for the export of English judgments to overseas jurisdictions?

On 27 June 2024, the United Kingdom ratified the Hague-19 Convention, or the Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters. This will enter into force in England and Wales on 1 July 2025.

The convention is the first multilateral scheme for the recognition and enforcement of judgments following the end of the Brexit transition/implementation period. As a result of its coming into force, judgments from England and Wales will more easily be recognised and enforced in the EU, as was the case prior to Brexit and the changes it brought. Nonetheless, its entry into force “will, doubtlessly, add some complications to the well-established common law on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments”.

In this briefing, Joshua Folkard and Charles Connor highlight some of the key provisions of the convention, particularly as regards its scope, and recognition and enforcement of exported judgments, or the refusal to do so.

The authors also identify three aspects of the Hague-19 convention where details of interpretation and application remain unclear, or it is possible to discern tensions with established law and procedure, which should be of significant interest to practitioners looking ahead to July 2025.

• Territorial extent: if and when the UK Government might extend the convention beyond England and Wales to all nations of the UK, overseas territories and/or Crown dependencies
• Fraud: how the English and Welsh courts will interpret and apply the fraud exception contained in the convention
• Arbitration: if and how arbitrations will be protected under the convention.

Read the full briefing