Bar Associations Lend Support to Hague Choice of Court Convention

The Hague Conference on Private International Law has announced that the German Bar Association (Deutschen Anwaltverein, or DAV) has encouraged the European Union to ratify the Choice of Court Convention. In a statement released in October 2013 (official version in German; a courtesy translation performed by the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference can be found here), the DAV, which represents the interests of the German bar at the national, European and international level, emphasised the significance of the Convention for EU litigants, and recommended that the EU extend the recognition and enforcement regime of the Convention to non-exclusive choice of court agreements (pursuant to Art. 22).

The statement follows support for the Convention from other national and international bar associations. In June, the Inter-American Bar Association recommended that States join the Convention. In 2006, the American Bar Association passed a resolution urging the United States to join the Convention, which was followed in 2009 by the US signing the Convention.