THE NEW2019 HAGUE CONVENTION ON RECOGNITION AND ENFORCEMENT OF FOREIGN JUDGMENTS– BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN THE WEST AND THE EAST

Abstract

The diplomatic session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law(Hague Conference) regarding the “Judgments Project” was be held from 18 June – 02 July 2019 in the Hague where the long awaited Hague Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments (new 2019 Hague Convention)wasadopted. This Convention comes as a result of 27 years of work that has been done in the course of this project of the Hague Conference and it can be said that is one of the most awaited developments in Private International Law. The success of the convention cannot be predicted at this point because large number of factors impact the outcome of the convention. However benefits from having an international agreement dealing with cross border recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments is self-evident. More than ever there is a need of a single instrument that will contain unified conditions for recognition and enforcement and ease the cross border circulation of judgments. Only a brief look at the New York Convention on recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards (New York Convention) provides for glimpse of the benefits from having such instrument. This article will provide for overview of the main aspects of the Convention. It will give an outline of the structure, mechanism and the rules provided in the Convention. This convention in contrast of its predecessors provides for more “soft” approach in bridging the differences between the legal systems of the west and the east. However, new 2019 Hague Convention is very important, because the transnational cooperation influenced by the globalization and the interconnection of the economic systems, asks for faster responsiveness of the legal systems and predictability of the legal outcome manifested by the