Key Features Of The Hague Convention

The Hague choice of court convention 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.

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 the court). 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

There is no discretion (on forum non convenience or other grounds) in favor of courts of another State.

• Secondly, the Hague Convention provides that any other court seized but not chosen must dismiss the case unless the exceptions listed in the Hague Convention apply (Article 6). A jurisdiction agreement is thus effectively enforced and avoids parallel proceedings.

• A third key feature of the Hague Convention is that it provides an international framework to recognize and enforce judgments. A judgment rendered by the court of a member State must be recognized and enforced by the courts of other member States (Article 8) unless one of the exceptions established by the Hague Convention applies (Article 9). This is the feature highlighted by Michael Hwang SC and Menon CJ in their speeches.

It must be borne in mind that the recognition and enforcement of judgments between member States are limited to judgments made by courts designated by the parties under the choice of court

If it is approved and widely ratified, it will serve as an equivalent to the New York Convention in international litigation. By eliminating differences arising from countries applying their own national laws, the future Judgments Convention will provide predictability, and a mechanism to streamline the recognition and enforcement of civil and commercial judgments on an international scale.”

Limitations of the Convention-

Although the Hague Convention is a step in the right direction in facilitating the international enforcement of court judgments, it has not yet had a radical impact on international disputes due to:

• its limited scope, as it applies only to judgments of courts specified by parties in a dispute resolution clause; and

• the limited number of countries which have ratified the Hague Convention. 29 countries have ratified the Hague Conventions so far, as compared to a total number of 156 States which are parties to the New York Convention.

Unless a larger number of countries sign up to the Hague Convention, it may struggle to diminish the appeal of international arbitration based on the wide enforceability of international arbitral awards, and consequently may not have the radical impact