Views
A Follow-Up: The German Judges Association’s Response to the HCCH Draft Text of a Future Convention on Parallel Proceedings and Related Actions
This post follows up on our earlier observations on the public consultation responses to the HCCH Draft Text of a future Convention on Parallel Proceedings and Related Actions. At the time our overview was prepared, the response of the German Judges Association was not yet available to us among the consultation materials on the HCCH website and could therefore not be included. It has since been made available, and we would like to take this opportunity to briefly add its key points to the discussion, notwithstanding that there are still coming up new responses such as the ones by Jonathan Mance (UK) – „Former Deputy President of UK Supreme Court, Co-Chair of the LC Advisory Committee”, the International Association of Consumer Law (IACL) or the Philippine Women Judges Association. We will leave it to others to comment on these.
Private International Law Dimensions of Singapore’s New Legislation to Combat Online Harms
Guest post by Professor YEO Tiong Min, Yong Pung How Chair Professor of Law, Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University
Much has been in the news about governmental endeavours to protect children from the ills of social media, which has partially eclipsed the equally important issue of social media being used to cause online harms to both the young and not so young alike. The Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Act 2025 (OSRAA) came into effect in Singapore on 29 June 2026, with the objective to strengthen the protection of victims against various types of emerging online harm, including intimate image abuse, image-based child abuse, doxxing, online harassment, and online stalking. The statute established the Online Safety Commission that can make orders to hold accountable those who post harmful content (Communicators), control the hosting of the harmful content (Administrators), or host the harmful content (Platforms).
The 1961 HCCH Apostille Convention: Why All African Countries Should Ratify It? — Insights from Judicial Practice in Africa
I. The Apostille Convention
The HCCH has recently announced that “[o]n 9 July 2026, the Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (1961 Apostille Convention) entered into force for the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria following the deposit of its instrument of accession on 5 November 2025.” With Algeria’s accession, the 1961 Apostille Convention now has 130 Contracting Parties, making it by far the most successful of all HCCH Conventions in terms of global participation.
News
Perspectives Contentieuses Internationales (PCI), Volume 6
The following announcement was kindly shared with us by Fabienne Jault-Seseke.
The 6th issue of Perspectives contentieuses internationales has been released and is online.
It contains seven articles related to the consolidation of cross-border litigation. These articles form the first part of the proceedings of a conference held in Toulouse in November 2025. The second part will be published in Volume 7. Volume 6 also includes two further articles, one on the law applicable to air transport and one of theclassification, and three short notes (focus).
Here is the list of papers, along with their abstracts.
Out Now (Open Access): Heiderhoff/Queirolo (eds), Private International Law and the European Union: Developments in Contemporary Private Law, 2026
A new volume coming out of the Programme in European Private Law for Postgraduates (PEPP) has just been published as part of the Scritti di diritto privato europeo ed internazionale series.
The book, available in open access here, focuses on the emergence of new legal personality for environmental features; protection of children; alternative dispute resolution; protection of the internal market and access to justice; SLAPPs; onlice activities and private international law; jurisdiction and choice of court agreements, and tax arbitrability.
Revue critique de droit international privé – Issue 2026/2
Written by Hadrien Pauchard (assistant researcher and doctoral student at Sciences Po Law School)
The second issue of the Revue Critique de droit international privé of 2026 was just released and is accessible online. It contains two articles, eight case notes, as well as five book reviews. In line with the Revue Critique’s recent policy, the doctrinal part will soon be made available in English on the editor’s website (for registered users and institutions).