Update on Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments

The 2016 Preliminary Draft Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments was reported on in our December 2016 article. The Special Commission on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments convened during 16-24 February 2017 to discuss a revised “February 2017 Draft Convention”.

The first notable revision is that there has been a rearrangement of the order of some of the articles. Secondly, the February 2017 Draft Convention now contains 34 articles, a significant increase in number from the 16 articles contained in the previous version.

In relation to content, there is a revision to the draft list of excluded matters that the Convention is not to apply to. Revised Article 2 sets out the list of excluded matters and now introduces privacy and intellectual property rights (except for copyright and related rights and registered and unregistered trademarks) as further matters to be excluded from the application of the Convention.

The other major revisions include a proposed new section dealing with general clauses (such as a transitional provision, declarations, interpretation and non-unified legal systems) and a proposed new section dealing with final clauses (such as signature, ratification, acceptance and accession).

The February 2017 Draft Convention is still subject to further discussions and revisions by the Special Commission and we will provide further updates as they occur.