Speed Read
Following the UK’s decision to join the Hague Judgments Convention 2019 (HJC) in November 2023 (see our previous article from December 2023), with signature taking place in January 2024, the UK has now proceeded to formally ratify the HJC on 27 June 2024. This means the HJC will enter into force in the UK on 1 July 2025, following the mandatory 12 month buy-in period for new parties.
Once in force, the HJC will apply to the enforcement of judgments between the UK and any other countries which are party to the HJC. Currently, the participating countries include all EU Member States (excluding Denmark) and Ukraine. Uruguay has also signed and ratified the HJC, which will take effect on 1 October 2024.
Benefits of the UK acceding to HJC
To recap, the HJC is an international treaty which establishes a uniform set of rules for all contracting states on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, without requiring a merits review of the judgment. The HJC expands on the 2005 Hague Convention by providing a streamlined set of rules specifically for the enforcement of judgments in the absence of exclusive jurisdiction clauses. (See our October 2022 briefing here which sets out an overview of the HJC.)
The UK’s decision to join the HJC will likely simplify enforcement of judgments between Ireland, the UK and other EU member states and provide more certainty to contracting parties in these states. As noted above, the HJC will only apply in the UK to judgments obtained in proceedings which commence after 1 July 2025. In practice, however, this will only apply to judgments obtained in England & Wales, as the UK’s ratification was accompanied by a declaration exempting Northern Ireland and Scotland from the scope of the HJC until such time as the UK decides to modify this. Despite this exemption, the UK’s decision to ratify remains important in filling the vacuum created by Brexit, following which the broad EU-wide regimes for the recognition and enforcement of judgments (the Brussels I Recast Regulations and the Lugano Convention) no longer apply in the UK.
Although UK judgments are currently enforceable under the Hague Convention 2005, that convention only applies where there is an exclusive jurisdiction clause. Ratification of the HJC will thus fulfil an important role in providing broader reach and consistency in the enforcement of foreign judgments where disputes arise without such a clause. That said, the HJC is narrower in scope than treaties such as the Lugano Convention, and therefore the UK will not have the full range of enforcement measures available to EU member states under such treaties.
What’s next for the HJC?
The HJC has been signed, but not ratified, by six other states, namely, Costa Rica, Israel, Russia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and the United States. It will be interesting to see whether the UK’s ratification will encourage ratification from these states or result in any new signatories and whether the UK will modify the scope of the HJC to include judgments obtained in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Overall, the UK joining the HJC is a significant step in increasing international co-operation in the cross-border enforcement of judgments and solidifies the influence of the HJC in the private international law landscape going forward.
For more information, please contact Sarah Murphy, Partner, Simon Barber, Lawyer, Darragh Muldoon, Solicitor, Orla Clayton, Knowledge Consultant, Rachel Kemp, Senior Knowledge Lawyer or your usual A&L Goodbody Disputes and Investigations team contact.
With thanks to Megan Hurley for her assistance
