Enforcement of judgments made easier between the EU and UK: The Hague Convention enters into force in the UK

The Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (the Convention), which previously entered into force for the EU and its Member States (except Denmark) in September 2023, now applies in the UK as well. 

There was a significant gap after Brexit where parties were left to navigate a patchwork of conventions and domestic rules when seeking to enforce UK judgments in the EU and EU judgments in the UK. Prior to Brexit, recognition and enforcement between the UK and EU Member States were governed by the Brussels I (Recast) Regulation that allowed near-automatic enforcement across the EU. After Brexit, that mechanism applied only to proceedings initiated until 31 December 2020. 

That gap has been plugged. The Convention provides increased predictability of the recognition and enforcement of UK judgments in the EU and vice versa.

Scope of application

There are three key limitations:

• ‘Civil and Commercial’:  The Convention covers judgments in “civil or commercial matters” (judicial settlements included).  This term, not defined by the Convention, must be interpreted autonomously (i.e. separately from the specific legal system of the requested State) but basically it is aimed at excluding matters which involve State sovereign acts. Several categories of disputes are specifically carved out, including insolvency, intellectual property and certain antitrust claims. 
• Date of application:  For the enforcement of judgments with the UK, the Convention applies to claims filed from 1 July 2025 onwards.
• Overseas British territories:  The Convention applies to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The UK has not yet opted to extend its application to any of the British Overseas Territories or Crown Dependencies.

Enforcement and recognition

The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments is easier and more predictable via a common framework applicable in States parties. A party seeking the recognition or enforcement of a foreign judgment must provide a complete and certified copy of the judgment and any documents necessary to establish that the judgment has effect (if seeking recognition) or is enforceable (if seeking enforcement) in the State of origin. If a party seeks the recognition or enforcement of a default judgment, it must also provide proof that the document which instituted the original proceedings was notified to the defaulting party.

A judgment must further satisfy one of the eligibility requirements listed by the Convention. These are based on a connecting factor between the judgment debtor and the State of origin, such as habitual residence of the debtor, the place of performance of contractual obligations, or the place of wrongful conduct in the case of tort claims. 

If the judgment meets one of the required connecting factors to the State of origin, the requested State may refuse recognition and enforcement only based on grounds stipulated by the Convention. This includes, among others, a lack of proper notice to the defendant in the original proceedings, the judgment being obtained by fraud, manifest incompatibility with the public policy of the requested State and the existence of an inconsistent earlier judgment between the same parties on the same subject matter. Except to the extent necessary for the application of the Convention, the courts of the requested State may not review the merits of the judgment.

Takeaway

The Convention does not ensure automatic recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments across all disputes. However, it is an important step in facilitating international litigation after Brexit and restores some of the predictability for international litigants. 

Careful attention to where and how proceedings are initiated and whether there are sufficient connecting factors for the application of the Convention will be critical to ensuring that a hard-won judgment can be enforced in the UK, or that a UK judgment can be enforced abroad. Parties faced with the prospect of international disputes are therefore well advised to consider enforcement options pursuant to the Convention or any other more favourable legal framework at the very outset of planning their litigation strategy, and should ideally have this in mind already when agreeing dispute mechanisms in contractual arrangements.