Views
Is there a need for international conventions on legal parentage (incl. international surrogacy arrangements)?
The Experts’ Group on Parentage / Surrogacy of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) has answered in the affirmative.
At its fifth meeting earlier this year, the Experts’ Group agreed that it would be feasible to develop both:
- a general private international law instrument on the recognition of foreign judicial decisions on legal parentage; and
- a separate protocol on the recognition of foreign judicial decisions on legal parentage arising from international surrogacy arrangements (abbreviated as “ISA”).
As announced on the HCCH website, the Experts’ Group will recommend to the governance body of the HCCH (i.e. Council on General Affairs and Policy) during its meeting in March 2019 that “work continue with a view to preparing proposals for inclusion in future instruments relating to the recognition of judicial decisions.” The Council will have the last word.
In my opinion, there are many reasons for drafting two separate instruments, which may range from legal to political as these are very sensitive topics. One that particularly struck me relates to the indirect grounds of jurisdiction when considering the recognition of such decisions:
“Most Experts concluded that the indirect grounds previously identified in the context of general legal parentage would not work in ISA cases, and instead supported the State of birth of the child as the primary connecting factor in an ISA case as this would provide certainty and predictability. A qualifier to that connecting factor (such as the habitual residence of the person giving birth to the child) might be necessary to guarantee sufficient proximity, as well as to prevent and combat trafficking of persons and law evasion.” See also para 25 of the Report.
Please note that these instruments would deal with the recognition and not with the enforcement of foreign judicial decisions given the nature of decisions on legal parentage. See in contrast my previous post on the HCCH draft Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters.
The HCCH news item is available here.
The full report is available here.
Sweden: New rules on non-recognition of underage marriages
Written by Prof. Maarit Jänterä-Jareborg, Uppsala University, Sweden
On 1 January 2019, new restrictions came into force in Sweden’s private international law legislation in respect of marriages validly concluded abroad. The revised rules are found in the Act (1904:26 p. 1) on Certain International Relationships on Marriage and Guardianship, Chapter 1 § 8a, as amended by SFS 2018:1973. The content of the new legislation is, briefly, the following: no marriage shall be recognised in Sweden if the spouses or either one of them was under the age of 18 years at the time of the marriage. By way of exception, this rule may be set aside once both parties are above 18 years of age, if there are exceptional reasons to recognise the marriage. Read more
HCCH Revised Draft Explanatory Report (version of December 2018) on the Judgments Convention is available on the HCCH website
A revised Draft Explanatory Report (version of December 2018) on the HCCH Draft Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters is available in both English and French on the Hague Conference website.
In my opinion, particularly complex topics in this Draft Explanatory Report include intellectual property (IP) rights (in particular, Art. 5(3) of the draft Convention– there are several provisions dealing with IP rights in addition to this Article) and the relationship of the draft Convention with other international instruments (Art. 24 of the Draft Convention). Some of the text is in square brackets, which means that such text has tentatively been inserted due perhaps to a lack of consensus at the Special Commission meetings, and thus a final decision will be taken at the Diplomatic Session scheduled for the summer 2019.
With regard to intellectual property rights, the draft Convention distinguishes between IP rights that require to be granted or registered (such as patents, registered trademarks, registered industrial designs and granted plant breeders’ rights) and those that do not require grant or registration (i.e. copyrights and related rights, unregistered trademarks, and unregistered industrial designs – this is a closed list for these specific rights). See paragraph 238 of the Draft Explanatory Report.
The draft Convention’s approach to IP rights, which is based on the territoriality principle, is set out very clearly in paragraph 235 of the Draft Explanatory Report. In particular, the draft Convention reflects a compromise according to which the State of Origin of the judgment will coincide with the lex loci protectionis i.e., the law of the State for which protection is sought, so as to avoid the application of foreign law to these rights (see also paragraph 236).
With respect to the relationship of the draft Convention with other international instruments, it is important to note that this draft Convention will cover, among many other things, non-exclusive choice of court agreements so as to give preference to the application of the HCCH Hague Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements to exclusive choice of court agreements. See paragraphs 220-225 and 410-430 of the Draft Explanatory Report.
The latest information about the Judgments Project is available here.
News
2023 Annual Awards on ADR- International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution
The CPR Institute’s Awards Program honors outstanding scholarship and practical achievement in the field of alternative dispute resolution.
HCCH Monthly Update: October 2023
Conventions & Instruments
On 6 October 2023, Rwanda deposited its instrument of accession to the HCCH 1961 Apostille Convention and applied to become a Member of the HCCH. Following a six-month voting period, and provided a majority of votes have been cast in its favour, Rwanda will be invited to become a Member by accepting the Statute of the HCCH. With the accession of Rwanda, the 1961 Apostille Convention now has 126 Contracting Parties. It will enter into force for Rwanda on 5 June 2024. More information is available here.
On 27 October 2023, Canada deposited its instrument of ratification of, and Kyrgyzstan its instrument of accession to, the HCCH 2007 Child Support Convention. With the ratification of Canada and the accession of Kyrgyzstan, 48 States and the European Union are bound by the 2007 Child Support Convention. It will enter into force for Canada on 1 February 2024 and for Kyrgyzstan on 1 November 2024. The application of the Convention in Canada will extend to the provinces of Manitoba and Ontario. More information is available here.
Foreign law in the Draft Code of French Private International Law: New volume in French
Gustavo Cerqueira and Hugues Fulchiron have recently edited a new volume (in French) on the appliation of foreign law in the draft code of French private international law (Le droit étranger dans le projet de code de droit international privé – Connaissance et applicationdroit). They have kindly provided us with the following English summary:
On the occasion of the public consultation on the draft code of French private international law launched by the Ministry of Justice on 8 June 2022, the Société de législation comparée organized a debate in Paris on 13 September of the same year on the provisions relating to the knowledge and application of foreign law – Articles 13 and 14 of the draft.
Between consolidation of case law, methodological clarification, new procedural perspectives and recourse to institutional cooperation, the choices made by the drafters of the proposed Code offered a great opportunity for collective reflection, bringing together the key players in the field. This reflection was all the timelier given that these provisions were not given particular attention either in the explanatory memorandum to the draft code or in the commentaries on the draft code by academic writers.
The purpose of this book is therefore to bring to public debate the most salient issues relating to this often-neglected chapter of conflict of laws, while at the same time putting forward singular proposals to ensure that the content of foreign law in France is established as accurate as possible.
In recent years, the Société de législation comparée has taken an interest in the issue of understanding and applying foreign law. Through this new initiative, the Société works to enhance French private international law, in line with the goals set out in Article 1 of its Articles of Association.