CPTech's Page on the Hague Conference on Private International Law's
Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters

Convention of 30 June 2005 on choice of court agreement.

Answers to frequently asked questions regarding Convention, as of November 8, 2005:

The Twentieth Ordinary Session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law since 1893 was held from 14 to 30 June 2005, in The Hague, at the Chamber of Commerce, Koningskade 30.

  • Subscribe to the hague-jur-commercial-law mailing list, or read archives of the list.
  • See CPTech's page on Internet Jurisdiction for some interesting cases and the CPTech's Libel/Defamation Page.
  • Here is the Hague Conference on Private International Law's Frequently Asked Questions regarding the Hague Conference and the Hague Conventions.
  • There are currently 64 members of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, and this is growing. If the Hague Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgments is approved, each country will agree to enforce each others judgments, regardless of where the actual cause of action takes place.
  • There are over 30 Hague Conference Conventions but this page focuses on the FUTURE HAGUE CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL JURISDICTION AND FOREIGN JUDGMENTS IN CIVIL AND COMMERCIAL MATTERS

    Page Index:

    For More Information:

  • Hague Conference on Private International Law Main Page, FAQ and page for the Future Hague Convention on International Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgements in Civil and Commercial Matters.
  • People to contact about the Hague Convention, including the names of members of more than 25 country delegations, academics, civil society and industry stakeholders.
  • Contact Manon Ress, by email at manon.ress@cptech.org or phone at 1. 202. 387. 8030

    Latest Documents:

  • January 19, 2004. Peter D. Trooboff's short article on the proposed Hague Convention the National Law Journal.
  • December 6, 2003. Open Letter to Delegates signed by the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), NetCoalition, the Internet Commerce Coalition (ICC) the U.S. Internet Industry Association (USIIA), and the U.S. InternetService Provider Association (USISPA) here
  • December 1-9, 2003. Special Commission on Jurisdiction, Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters. The official report will be available soon. In the meantime, you may want to read Manon Ress' version of Work. Doc No 49E (the draft on exclusive choice of court agreements). Note: this is not the "official" version but her own notes.
  • August 20, 2003. The Secretary General letter to the Special Commision. to schedule negotiations for the Choice of Court Convention for December 1-9, 2003.
  • June 26, 2003. Jack Valenti (MPAA) letter to Jeff Kovar.
  • June 2003. Preliminary Document No 22 - Report on the work of the Informal Working Group on the Judgments Project, in particular on the preliminary text achieved at its third meeting – 25-28 March 2003
  • March 25-28, 2003. The Working Group had its third meeting at The Hague and produced a Revised Draft.
  • February 2003. AFFECT Letter to Jeff Kovar. AFFECT is a broad-based national coalition of retail and manufacturing businesses, consumers, financial services institutions, technology professionals and librarians.
    AFFECT appreciates the value of a treaty that brings predictability to settling disputes over business-to-business (B2B) contracts and license agreements. However, we strongly urge the U.S. delegation to consider, as it proceeds, the adverse impact to businesses and institutional users of software and other digital information materials if such a treaty does not provide for some exceptions to the enforceability of choice of forum clauses and other terms that one party (the licensee) has had no opportunity to negotiate.
  • February 2003. Report on the Second Meeting of the Informal Working Group on the Judgments Project - January 6-9, 2003.
  • November 2002. Preliminary Document No 20 - Report on the first meeting of the Informal Working Group on the Judgments Project - October 22-25, 2002.
  • August 2002. "Reflection paper to assist in the preparation of a convention on jurisdiction and recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in civil and commercial matters" prepared by Andrea Shulz, First Secretary. Preliminary document No 19 of August 2002 for the attention of the meeting of the Informal Working Group of October 2002. Available on the Hague Conference Page.
  • May 15, 2002. The Hague Conference conclusions after Commission I on General Affairs and Policy Meeting held on 22-24 April 2002 at The Hague.
    The Commission agreed that the best path forward on the Judgments Project at this point would be to have the Secretariat convene an informal working group and facilitate and conduct a transparent and flexible working process with a view to preparing a text to be submitted to a Special Commission during the first half of 2003. The Special Commission would then be followed by a Diplomatic Conference which would be held, if possible, by the end of 2003. Based on a paper to be prepared by the Permanent Bureau, the starting point for this informal process will be a discussion of a core area of possible grounds of jurisdiction as tentatively identified by the Commission, as well as the existing provisions on recognition and enforcement upon which there is broad agreement. This core area might include choice of court agreements, defendant's forum, counter-claims, branches, submission, trusts and physical injury torts.
    For more information, contact:
    Andrea Schulz, First Secretary
    Permanent Bureau
    The Hague Conference on Private International Law
    Scheveningseweg 6
    2517 KT - The Hague
    The Netherlands

  • December 23, 2002. Miriam Nisbet. Ecommerce Roundtable Notes.
  • April 16, 2002. James Love. Ecommerce Roundtable Notes.
  • February 6, 2002. Some Reflections on the Present State of Negociations on the Judgments Project in the Context of the Future Work Programme of the Conference submitted by the Permanent Bureau.
  • February 6, 2002. The Impact of the Internet on the Judgments Project: Thoughts for the Future submitted by Avril D. Haines for the Permanent Bureau.
  • February 6, 2002. Choice of Court Agreements in International Litigation: Their Use and Legal Problems to Which They Give Rise in the Context of the Interim text submitted by Avril D. Haines for the Permanent Bureau.
  • The current draft of the Hague Convention, produced by the First Diplomatic Conference, June 2001. (Interim Text, .rtf format). back to top

    CPTech Documents

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    Hague Conference Meetings and Related Documents

  • May 4, 2004. Stephen W. Schwab. Draft Convention: concerns for international reinsurance law practitioners, regulators and reinsurance market participants
  • Draft that emerged from the Special Commission Meeting in the Hague (April 21-27, 2004).
  • Miriam Nisbet, Legal Counsel of the American Library Association summary of the December 1-9, 2003 meeting and why libraries should be concerned.
  • Schedule for negotiations for the Choice of Court Convention for December 1-9, 2003. See the Secretary General's letter to the Special Commision.
  • Tentative schedule for Meetings of the Informal Working Group March 25-28 and June 24-27, 2003.
  • Second Meeting of the Informal Working Group January 6-9, 2003 in The Hague. Permanent Bureau report and new draft should be available in about 4 weeks.
  • The Informal Working Group met in The Hague October 22-25, 2002 to discuss a choice of Forum Clause in B2B contract Convention. Report and Draft provisions posted on the Hague Conference Page. See Document 20.
  • May 15, 2002. The Hague Conference conclusions after April 20-24, 2002 Meeting.
  • February 6, 2002. Some Reflections on the Present State of Negociations on the Judgments Project in the Context of the Future Work Programme of the Conference submitted by the Permanent Bureau.
  • February 6, 2002. The Impact of the Internet on the Judgments Project: Thoughts for the Future submitted by Avril D. Haines for the Permanent Bureau.
  • February 6, 2002. Choice of Court Agreements in International Litigation: Their Use and Legal Problems to Which They Give Rise in the Context of the Interim text submitted by Avril D. Haines for the Permanent Bureau.
  • June 2001. 1st Hague Convention Diplomatic Conference in the Hague
  • Summary of the Outcome of the Discussion in Commission II of the First Part of the Diplomatic Conference (Interim Text, .rtf format).
  • June 18, 2001. Options Identified by the Informal Working Group on Consumer Contracts (pertaining to Article 7 of the Hague Convention, .pdf format).
  • June 18, 2001. Outcome of discussions of the informal Working Group on Intellectual Property. (.pdf format)
  • June 1, 2001. Draft Hague Provisions for Non-exclusive Jurisdiction in Patents and Trademark Cases. (.pdf format)
  • April 23-24, 2001. Informal Meeting of Delegates in Edinburgh, Scotland Here are documents that were produced for the Edinburgh meeting:
    • Torts (proposed revision to Article 10) (rtf | pdf)
    • Consumer/ Employment Contracts - Version 0.6 presented to Plenary Session in Edinburgh (rtf | pdf)
    • Contracts Jurisdiction (rtf | pdf)
    • Intellectual Property (proposed patent and trademark provisions, and discussion on copyright pertaining to Article 10) (rtf | pdf)
    • Annex agenda_e, Agenda for Edinburgh Meeting
    • Annex_D, IP: The Way Forward, Proposal by the UK to separate patent rights from other IP rights and new text.
    • Annex_A_ii, New Text for Contract Jurisdiction (Article 6).
    • Annex_G, Enforceability of final judgements in international conflicts other than money judgements.
    • Annex_F_i, Paper as a basis for discussion on Provisional and Protective Measures (Article 13) with existing rules on jurisdiction for provisional measures by Andrea Shulz.
    • Annex_F_ii, Some Thoughts on Article 13 (Provisional and Protective Measures) with summary of options available by Peter Nygh (April 2001).
    • Annex_B1, David Goddard's Memo (March 22, 2001) on choice of court and consumer contracts (new versions of Article 7).
    • Annex_C1, Employment Disputes: An Issues Paper (Article 8 special provisions in relation to jurisdiction in claims relating to individual contracts of employment).
    • Annex_H, Issue of Bilateralisation, Question of whether the Convention obliges you to accept another country as a Contracting State.
    • Annex_E, Relationship with other conventions and intergovernmental arrangements-some general principles. Discussion Draft 1.
    • Edinburgh 41, Paper Submitted to the Edinburgh Meeting of the Hague Conference in Relation to Article 10(2) of the Draft Convention.
    These two papers were presented at Edinburgh by delegates as private citizens, not as delegates representing their respective nations.

    • Professor Masato Dogauchi (Japan). "A View From the Far East". This paper explains problems with nuclear liability (Art.1(2)), torts and delicts (Art. 10), intellectual property (12), provisional and protective measures (Art. 13 and 23), third party claims (Article 16), Article 18 and 28.
    • Oliver Tell (France). "Disconnection Clause". This paper focuses on the question of how to deal in the future Hague Convention with its relationship to other regional arrangements, in particular the European instruments.
  • February 26-March 1, 2001. Ottawa II Meeting on E-Commerce

    • Ottawa meeting on Electronic Commerce and International Jurisdiction, Summary of discussions, prepared by Catherine Kessedjian with the co-operation of the private international law team of the Ministry of Justice of Canada (pdf format).
  • January 30-31, 2001. Geneva WIPO Forum on Private International Law and Intellectual Property

    Here is the WIPO website for the Jan. 30-31 Geneva Forum on Private International Law and Intellectual Property. Three papers on intellectual property rights and jurisdiction were prepared for this meeting.
  • December 13-15, 2000. Basel, Switzerland, government negotiations on the Convention text
  • December 11-12, 2000. ICC/OECD/Hague meeting in the Hague on ADR
    This meeting focused on Alternative Dispute Resolution.
  • October 30-31, 2000. Informal Meeting of Delegations, Washington, DC.
    Here is the "Suggested Agenda" for the this US State Department-sponsored meeting.
  • October 1999. Hague Conference on Private International Law. Preliminary Draft Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgements in Civil and Commercial Matters.

  • September 2-4, 1999. Geneva Round Table on Private International Law, Internet and Electronic Commerce

    • Hague Conference on Private International Law Press Release concerning the Geneva Round Table on Electronic Commerce and Private International Law.
  • November 25, 1965. Hague Convention on Choice of Court
    This proposed Convention was ultimately unsuccessful.

    Hague Conference on Private International Law Documents

    U.S. Consultations and Commentary

    U.S. Congressional Hearings

    U.S. Government Consulations

  • May 9, 2005. State Department Advisory Committee meeting on the Hague Judgments Convention, Washington, DC.
  • March 29, 2005. Meeting of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Private International Law Study Group on Enforcement of Judgments, Washington, DC.
  • May 20-21, 2004. Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Private International Law Register Notice and Agenda
  • March 29-31, 2004. Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Private International Law -- Study Group on International Jurisdiction and Judgments Federal Register Notice and Agenda
  • June 16, 2003. Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Private International Law -- Study Group on International Jurisdiction and Judgments. Agenda.
  • May 21, 2003. The United States Patent and Trademark Office and the United States Copyright Office are hosting a meeting to discuss the preparation of a new text of the Hague Jurisdiction and Enforcement of Judgments Convention. The meeting will be held at the USPTO and is open to all interested parties of the IP community.

    During the past 9 years, the US government and other interested governments have worked together to draft the Hague Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Civil Judgments. It was hoped that this convention would be an essential part of the future growth of the global economy and a cornerstone of a more harmonized worldwide civil justice structure. However, at the diplomatic conference of 2001, an impasse in the negotiations for such a convention prevented it from moving forward to completion. During 2002, interested governments decided to form an informal experts working group to draft a limited Convention with a narrow scope that would provide the most immediate benefits for international business. After several working group meetings, a new text has emerged that focuses on exclusive choice of court clauses in commercial contracts. This text is available at ftp://ftp.hcch.net/doc/genaff_pd08e.pdf.
    Interested parties should review Articles 1(3)(k); 1(4); 4(3); 7(1) and 7(2).
  • November 14-15, 2002. Advisory Committee meeting on Private International Law at the offices of the International Law Institute, 1615 New Hampshire Ave., NW, Washington DC. The meeting will cover the full range of commercial law, family law, and judicial cooperation activities. The meeting starts at 10am and goes until 5pm on Thursday. Other topics Thursday will be the UNCITRAL arbitration project; security interests at UNCITRAL, UNIDROIT, and Hague Conference; and the new Franchise Model Law from UNIDROIT. Friday Session (9:30am -4pm) will be about the new UNCITRAL Model Law on Conciliation; international child support enforcement, abduction, adoption, protection of adults. Electronic commerce at UNCITRAL; and a general wrap-up on Friday afternoon Hal Burman (US State Department) is organizing the meeting. Informal Notes on Hague Session.

  • November 8, 2002. The Advisory Committee on International Law Meeting at the State Department took place on Friday November 8, 2002. The meeting between State Department officials, chaired by legal adviser William Taft, IV and the Committee was about various issues related to extraterritorial Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction. Jeff Kovar gave a short update on the status of the "judgment project" convention" following the Informal Working group meeting at The Hague, October 22-25, 2002. Informal Notes on Hague Session.

  • FTC's December 19, 2001 Hague Roundtable
    • FTC Notice of meeting.
    • December 11, 2001 request by Charlie Cray, Associate Editor of the Multinational Monitor, to discuss issues relating to freedom of press.
    • December 10, 2001 request by Michael Palmedo to discuss issue of the first sale doctrine.
  • September 11, 2001. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office hearing on the IP aspects of the proposed Hague Convention (link is to Fed. Register notice in pdf format). Additionally, the notices includes a request for written comments (deadline Oct. 19).
  • May 16, 2001. U.S. Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Private International Law study group on the Hague Convention. Meeting Notice (.pdf document).
  • May 15, 2001. U.S. Copyright Office Public Roundtable on the Intellectual Property aspects of the Hague Convention. Federal Register Notice.
  • February 6, 2001. U.S. Federal Trade Commission Public Roundtable on Dispute Resolution for Online Business-to-Consumer Contracts. Here is the agenda and list of Roundtable participants.
  • January 12, 2001. USPTO Request for Comments on IPR aspects of treaty. The public comment period ended on January 12, 2001. Here are the comments received by the USPTO in their entirety. Additionally, here are several selected comments.
    • November 21, 2000. CPTech's comments.
    • January 12, 2001. Comments of the International Center for Technology Assessment (.pdf file)
    • January 11, 2001. Comments of the Digital Future Coalition.
    • December 11, 2000. Comments of The Association of the Bar of the City of New York. (.pdf format)
    • December 8, 2000. Comments of the American Intellectual Property Law Association. (.pdf format)
    • December 1, 2000. Comments of The International Trademark Association.
    • November 30, 2000. Comments of Verizon Communications. (.pdf format)

    U.S. Government Commentary on the Hague Convention

    • April 13, 2001. Sample Form from the U.S. State Department, prepared for the U.S. Delegation.
    • February 2001. U.S. Interim Positions on Intellectual Property and the Hague Convention.
    • 10 September, 2000, Jeffrey D Kovar, US Department of State Assistant Legal Adviser for Private International Law, letter to Alasdair Wallace, Head of International and Common Law Services Division, Lord Chancellor's Department.
    • U.S. State Department, Update on the Convention from the Assistant Legal Adviser for Private International Law. Unfortunately, this page is not updated regularly.
    • 22 February 2000, Jeffrey D Kovar, US Department of State Assistant Legal Adviser for Private International Law, letter to J.H.A. van Loon, Secretary General, Hague Conference on Private International Law

    Consultations and Commentary from Other Governments

  • European Commission

  • Australia

    The Australian Attorney-General's Department requested comments regarding international e-commerce issues related to the draft Hague Convention up to February 16, 2001. The Australian Attorney-General's Department's issue paper on this topic is here.

  • United Kingdom

    There seems to be some consultation between the UK Patent Office and at least one private-sector group, as shown by this notice from The Sports Industries Federation website.

    "The Patent Office in the UK has asked the Federation to co-ordinate comments from the sports industry about the basic principle of including any intellectual property rights within the scope of the Hague Convention and/or about any of the detailed wording of the convention. At the moment, registered rights are subject to exclusive jurisdiction for invalidity actions and there has been discussion that this should extend to infringement actions as well, given that the two are closely linked. The latter has not been accepted yet, as can be seen from the square brackets in the draft text. There is currently no special provision on unregistered rights - copyright and related rights - so that these will fall fully within the general provisions of the draft convention.

    There is still the possibility of trying to negotiate the exclusion of some or all intellectual property actions from the scope of the draft convention. If you have any views on this matter, please forward them to Catherine Gordon at the Federation. Any comments sent on to the Patent Office may be made available for public inspection unless confidentiality is requested. Anyone sending comments should indicate whether or not confidentiality is required."

  • India

    According to a June 25, 2001 Times of India article, the Indian Commerce Ministry has been soliciting input from industry groups about the Hague Convention.

    "Before finalising its views on this matter, commerce ministry has asked the ministry of information technology to collate the views of industry. Even as July 3 has been set as the deadline ,only one industry body has come up with its view uptil now. This is the Manufacturers' Association For Information Technology (MAIT). MAIT's view is that the proposed Hague Convention does not ,in itself, offer an appropriate solution to the issue of internet based disputes. To arrive at an international consensus on how such disputes need to be handled, the WTO should create a special horizontal group, MAIT feels."

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    Commentary and Relevant Documents on the Hague Convention

    Academic and Law Review Articles on the Hague Convention

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    The Hague Convention in the News

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    Questions, comments and suggestions to Manon Ress manon.ress@cptech.org

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