Today, the HCCH finalised the text for a new multilateral treaty: the 2019 HCCH Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters.

This new Convention will be a single global framework, enabling the free circulation of judgments on civil or commercial matters across borders. It will be essential to reducing the transactional and litigation costs in cross-border dealings and to promoting international access to justice. It will provide a legal regime that further increases certainty and predictability in cross-border dealings, promotes the better management of transaction and litigation risks, and which shortens timeframes for the recognition and enforcement of a judgement in other jurisdictions. The Convention will provide better, more effective, and cheaper justice for individuals and businesses alike – a gamechanger in international dispute resolution.

The Final Act will be signed during a ceremony which will take place tomorrow, 2 July 2019, in the Great Hall of Justice in the Peace Palace.

On behalf of The Netherlands, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Stef BLOK will be attending the ceremony. The Minister said: “The HCCH Conventions bridge differences between the Members’ legal systems in areas covered by private international law. This creates a high degree of legal security for individuals and companies. It enhances the legal certainty and predictability that is so important in international legal matters, especially in international trade and therefore our economy.”