The 2019 Hague Judgments Convention is now in force in the UK

Headline

The Hague Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (“Hague 2019”) entered into force in the UK on 1 July 2025. Judgments given in qualifying proceedings commenced on or after that date in the UK courts will be enforceable in the EU, Ukraine and Uruguay (and vice versa).

Key points

Some types of proceedings fall outside the scope of Hague 2019. Notable amongst these exclusions is matters concerning intellectual property, insolvency, defamation, privacy and some anti-trust matters.

Also, recognition and enforcement are not available to judgments given in arbitration or related proceedings, or to any interim measures of protection, such as injunctive relief.

There are 13 bases on which a judgment may be eligible for recognition or enforcement under Hague 2019. 

Unlike the Hague 2005 Convention on Choice of Court Agreements, judgments given by a court designated in a choice of court agreement may be enforced even where the designation of court is not exclusive. This means that non-exclusive and asymmetrical jurisdiction clauses of the type often seen in, for example, finance contracts may be enforced under Hague 2019.

A state asked to enforce a judgment may not review its merits, though it may refuse to recognise or enforce a judgment on limited, express grounds. These include problems with the defendant being notified of the proceedings, incompatibility as between the judgment and the public policy of the enforcing state, and inconsistency with a relevant prior judgment. 

Having initially declared that Hague 2019 would only apply to England and Wales, the UK subsequently declared on 26 March 2025 that Hague 2019 would also apply to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Details of the bases for recognition and enforcement, permitted grounds for refusal and other aspects of Hague 2019 are set out in our previous note.

The US, Israel and Russia, amongst others, have signed Hague 2019 but still not ratified it.

Background

Hague 2019 establishes a common framework through which judgments of the courts of a Contracting State may be recognised and / or enforced in another Contracting State, subject to certain conditions and exclusions. Before it left the European Union in 2021, the UK was a party to framework agreements relating to cross-border civil and judicial cooperation, such as the Recast Brussels Regulation and the Lugano Convention. Following Brexit, the UK ceased to be a party to those agreements so, although it continued to be a party to the Hague 2005 Convention on Choice of Court Agreements, it no longer fell within the scope of these instruments that provided frameworks for jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments. 

The UK signed Hague 2019 on 12 January 2024 and ratified it on 27 June 2024.

For further information on how Hague 2019 fits into the work of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, see our previous note.