The Hague Choice-of-Court Convention

Abstract:

The Hague Convention on Choice-of-Court Agreements was adopted in 2005 by a conference in which the Community and the major countries of the world participated. Its purpose is to provide for the worldwide recognition and enforcement of choice-of-court agreements. This involves ensuring that the court chosen hears the case; that other courts do not hear it; and that the resulting judgment is enforced in other countries. This could have important consequences for international business, since most transnational commercial agreements contain a choice-of-court clause. The Community will now have to decide whether to ratify the Convention. If it does, it will be concluded either as a mixed agreement or (more likely) as an agreement within exclusive Community competence.