CONVENTION ON THE CHOICE OF COURT
(Concluded November 25, 1965)
The States
signatory to the present Convention,
Desiring to
establish common provisions on the validity and effects of agreements on the
choice of court,
Have resolved to
conclude a Convention to this effect and have agreed upon the following
provisions:
Article 1
In the matters
to which this Convention applies and subject to the conditions which it
prescribes, parties may by an agreement on the choice of court designate, for
the purpose of deciding disputes which have arisen or may arise between them in
connection with a specific legal relationship, either -
(1)
the courts of one of the Contracting States, the particular competent court
being then determined (if at all) by the internal legal system or systems of
that State, or
(2) a court expressly named of one of the
Contracting States, provided always that this court is competent according to
the internal legal system or systems of that State.
Article 2
This Convention
shall apply to agreements on the choice of court concluded in civil or
commercial matters in situations having an international character.
It shall not
apply to agreements on the choice of court concluded in the following matters -
(1) the
status or capacity of persons or questions of family law including the personal
or financial rights or obligations between parents and children or between
spouses;
(2) maintenance obligations not included in sub-paragraph (1);
(3) questions of succession;
(4) questions of bankruptcy, compositions or analogous proceedings,
including decisions which may result therefrom and which relate to the validity
of the acts of the debtor;
(5) rights in immovable property.
Article 3
This Convention
shall apply whatever the nationality of the parties.
Article 4
For the purpose
of this Convention the agreement on the choice of court shall have been validly
made if it is the result of the acceptance by one party of a written proposal
by the other party expressly designating the chosen court or courts.
The existence of
such an agreement shall not be presumed from the mere failure of a party to
appear in an action brought against him in the chosen court.
The agreement on
the choice of court shall be void or voidable if it has been obtained by an
abuse of economic power or other unfair means.
Article 5
Unless the
parties have otherwise agreed only the chosen court or courts shall have
jurisdiction.
The chosen court
shall be free to decline jurisdiction if it has proof that a court of another
Contracting State could avail itself of the provisions of Article 6(2).
Article 6
Every court
other than the chosen court or courts shall decline jurisdiction except -
(1) where
the choice of court made by the parties is not exclusive,
(2) where under the internal law of the State of the excluded court, the
parties were unable, because of the subject-matter, to agree to exclude the
jurisdiction of the courts of that State,
(3) where the agreement on the choice of court is void or voidable in the
sense of Article 4,
(4) for the purpose of provisional or protective measures.
Article 7
Where, in their
agreement, the parties have designated a court or the courts of a Contracting
State without excluding the jurisdiction of other courts, proceedings already
pending in any court thus having jurisdiction and which may result in a
decision capable of being recognised in the State where the defence is pleaded,
shall constitute the basis for the defence of lis
pendens.
Article 8
Decisions given
by a chosen court in the sense of this Convention in one of the Contracting
States shall be recognised and enforced in the other Contracting States in
accordance with the rules for the recognition and enforcement of foreign
judgments in force in those States.
Article 9
Where the
conditions for recognition and enforcement of a decision rendered on the basis
of an agreement on the choice of court are not fulfilled in another Contracting
State, the agreement shall not preclude any party from bringing a new action in
the courts of that State.
Article 10
Settlements made
in the chosen court in the course of proceedings there pending which are
enforceable in the State of that court shall be treated in the same manner as
decisions made by that court.
Article 11
This Convention
shall not derogate from Conventions containing provisions on the matters
governed by this Convention to which the Contracting States are, or shall
become, Parties.
Article 12
Any Contracting
State may reserve the right not to recognise agreements on the choice of court
concluded between persons who, at the time of the conclusion of such
agreements, were its nationals and had their habitual residence in its
territory.
Article 13
Any Contracting
State may make a reservation according to the terms of which it will treat as
an internal matter the juridical relations established in its territory
between, on the one hand, physical or juridical persons who are there and, on
the other hand, establishments registered on local registers, even if such
establishments are branches, agencies or other representatives of foreign firms
in the territory in question.
Article 14
Any Contracting
State may make a reservation according to the terms of which it may extend its
exclusive jurisdiction to the juridical relations established in its territory
between, on the one hand, physical or juridical persons who are there and on
the other hand establishments registered on local registers, even if such
establishments are branches, agencies or other representatives of foreign firms
in the territory in question.
Article 15
Any Contracting
State may reserve the right not to recognise agreements on the choice of court
if the dispute has no connection with the chosen court, or if, in the
circumstances, it would be seriously inconvenient for the matter to be dealt
with by the chosen court.
Article 16
The present
Convention shall be open for signature by the States represented at the Tenth
Session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.
It shall be
ratified, and the instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
Article 17
The present
Convention shall enter into force on the sixtieth day after the deposit of the
third instrument of ratification referred to in the second paragraph of Article
16.
The Convention
shall enter into force for each signatory State which ratifies subsequently on
the sixtieth day after the deposit of its instrument of ratification.
Article 18
Any State not
represented at the Tenth Session of the Hague Conference on Private
International Law may accede to the present Convention after it has entered
into force in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 17. The
instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the Netherlands.
The Convention
shall enter into force for such a State in the absence of any objection from a
State, which has ratified the Convention before such deposit, notified to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands within a period of six months
after the date on which the said Ministry has notified it of such accession.
In the absence
of any such objection, the Convention shall enter into force for the acceding
State on the first day of the month following the expiration of the last of the
periods referred to in the preceding paragraph.
Article 19
Any State may,
at the time of signature, ratification or accession, declare that the present
Convention shall extend to all the territories for the international relations
of which it is responsible, or to one or more of them. Such a declaration shall
take effect on the date of entry into force of the Convention for the State
concerned.
At any time
thereafter, such extensions shall be notified to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the Netherlands.
The Convention
shall enter into force for the territories mentioned in such an extension on
the sixtieth day after the notification referred to in the preceding paragraph.
Article 20
Any State may,
not later than the moment of its ratification or accession, make one or more of
the reservations mentioned in Articles 12, 13, 14 and 15 of the present
Convention. No other reservation shall be permitted.
Each Contracting
State may also, when notifying an extension of the Convention in accordance
with Article 19, make one or more of the said reservations, with its effect
limited to all or some of the territories mentioned in the extension.
Each Contracting
State may at any time withdraw a reservation it has made. Such a withdrawal
shall be notified to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
Such a
reservation shall cease to have effect on the sixtieth day after the
notification referred to in the preceding paragraph.
Article 21
The present
Convention shall remain in force for five years from the date of its entry into
force in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 17, even for States
which have ratified it or acceded to it subsequently.
If there has
been no denunciation, it shall be renewed tacitly every five years.
Any denunciation
shall be notified to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands at
least six months before the end of the five year period.
It may be
limited to certain of the territories to which the Convention applies.
The denunciation
shall have effect only as regards the State which has notified it. The
Convention shall remain in force for the other Contracting States.
Article 22
The Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands shall give notice to the States referred to
in Article 16, and to the States which have acceded in accordance with Article
18, of the following -
a) the
signatures and ratifications referred to in Article 16;
b) the date on which the present
Convention enters into force in accordance with the first paragraph of Article
17;
c) the accessions referred to in
Article 18 and the dates on which they take effect;
d) the extensions referred to in
Article 19 and the dates on which they take effect;
e) the reservations and
withdrawals referred to in Article 20;
f) the denunciations
referred to in the third paragraph of Article 21.
In witness
whereof the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed the present
Convention.
Done at The
Hague, on the 25th day of November, 1965, in the English and French languages,
both texts being equally authentic, in a single copy which shall be deposited
in the archives of the Government of the Netherlands, and of which a certified
copy shall be sent, through the diplomatic channel, to each of the States
represented at the Tenth Session of the Hague Conference on Private
International Law.
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