The in-house lawyer's guide to the Hague 2019 Judgments Convention (now ratified)

The UK government has ratified the Hague Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (Hague 2019). That means it will come into force for the UK on 1 July 2025, and it will then provide a uniform framework for the recognition and enforcement of judgments between the UK and the other contracting states, including all EU member states except Denmark.

The UK's ratification of Hague 2019 is an important and welcome development for financial institutions as it will facilitate the enforcement of English judgments abroad and help to reinforce the UK's standing as a forum for the resolution of cross-border disputes. This is particularly important post-Brexit, since the broad EU-wide regimes for the recognition and enforcement of judgments no longer apply to the UK.

For a helpful discussion of what this means for international dispute resolution, you can listen to a special edition of our commercial litigation podcast, in which we discuss Hague 2019 and its implications:

SPECIAL EDITION PODCAST on iTunes, Spotify and SoundCloud. 

Our more in-depth analysis of the impact of the UK's membership of Hague 2019 considers the following key questions:

1. Why does Hague 2019 matter?
2. When will Hague 2019 apply?
3. What judgments are eligible for enforcement?
4. When can enforcement be refused?
5. What does the future hold?

You can read our insights on these questions here:

BLOG POST: The Hague 2019 Judgments Convention: Bolstering the UK's position as a jurisdiction of choice for international dispute resolution

We have also published a new quick reference guide to help determine whether an English court judgment may be enforced in another country – click on the link below to access it:

DECISION TREE: Will an English judgment be enforceable abroad?