UK government consults on joining Hague Judgments Convention 2019

The UK government yesterday launched a consultation seeking views on its plan for the UK to become a contracting state to the Hague Convention of 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (Hague 2019).

The EU and Ukraine recently became the first states to accede to or ratify Hague 2019, as discussed here, which means that the Convention will apply to the enforcement of judgments between EU member states (other than Denmark) and Ukraine where proceedings leading to the judgment are commenced on or after 1 September 2023.

If the UK joins Hague 2019, it will apply also as between the UK, on the one hand, and the EU (other than Denmark) and Ukraine, on the other. However, there is a 12 month delay before Hague 2019 enters into force for any new contracting state, to give each existing contracting state a chance to (in effect) opt out of the application of the Convention between itself and the new state. So, assuming the UK joins, the Convention will only apply to the UK where the proceedings leading to a judgment are commenced after the entry into force date, which will be sometime in 2024 at the earliest.

Hague 2019 does not apply where the court which gave the judgment took jurisdiction under an exclusive jurisdiction clause, as in that case the 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements would generally take precedence.

The consultation will be open until 9 February, and we will be submitting a response supporting the government's plan to join. Although Hague 2019 is not a complete substitute for the Lugano Convention - which the UK has to date been unable to rejoin due to the European Commission's opposition  (see our previous blog posts here and here) - it would be helpful in expanding the ready enforceability of English judgments in the EU and elsewhere, in cases which are not covered by the 2005 Convention as there is no exclusive English jurisdiction clause.