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China’s New Foreign State Immunity Law: Some Foreign Relations Aspects
Written by Wenliang Zhang (Associate Professor at Renmin University of China Law School), Haoxiang Ruan (PhD Candidate at Renmin University of China Law School), and William S. Dodge (the John D. Ayer Chair in Business Law and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law).
On September 1, 2023, the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC Standing Committee) passed the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Foreign State Immunity (FSIL) (English translation here). The FSIL will enter into force on January 1, 2024.
Australia’s statutist orthodoxy: High Court confirms the extraterritorial scope of the Australian Consumer Law in the Ruby Princess COVID-cruise case
The Ruby Princess will be remembered by many Australians with disdain as the floating petri dish that kicked off the spread of COVID-19 in Australia. The ship departed Sydney on 8 March 2020, then returned early on 19 March 2020 after an outbreak. Many passengers became sick. Some died. According to the BBC, the ship was ultimately linked to at least 900 infections and 28 deaths.
The jurisdictional hurdles of s 26 of the Trans-Tasman Proceedings Act 2010 (Cth), in the context of interim anti-enforcement relief in aid of New Zealand proceedings
The New Zealand High Court recently granted a permanent anti-enforcement injunction in relation to a default judgment from Kentucky in Kea Investments Ltd v Wikeley Family Trustee Limited [2023] NZHC 3260. The plaintiff, a British Virgin Islands company, claimed that the defendants had committed a tortious conspiracy against it because the Kentucky default judgment was based on fabricated claims intended to defraud it. The defendants were a New Zealand company, Wikeley Family Trustee Ltd (WFTL), and persons associated with the company.
In an undefended judgment, the High Court granted the injunction, awarded damages for the costs incurred in the foreign proceedings (referring to cases such as Union Discount Co Ltd v Zoller [2001] EWCA Civ 1755, [2002] 1 WLR 1517 by analogy), and issued a declaration that the Kentucky judgment would not be recognised or enforceable in New Zealand. As noted previously on this blog (see here), the case is an interesting example of “the fraud exception to the principles of comity” (Kea Investments Ltd v Wikeley (No 2) [2023] QSC 215 at [192]).
News
HCCH Monthly Update: April 2025
HCCH Monthly Update: April 2025
Membership
On 10 April 2025, Qatar applied to become a Member of the HCCH. On the same day, the Secretary General of the HCCH opened the six-month voting period during which all current Members of the HCCH may cast their vote on the proposal. Following this voting period, and provided a majority of votes are cast in favour, Qatar will be invited to become a Member by depositing an instrument of acceptance of the Statute of the HCCH. More information is available here.
Meetings & Events
From 2 to 4 April 2025, the conference “15 Years of the HCCH Washington Declaration: Progress and Perspectives on International Family Relocation” was held at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C., United States of America. The conference was jointly organised by the Embassy of Canada, the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL), and the HCCH. More information is available here.
From 7 to 11 April 2025, the Working Group on Parentage / Surrogacy met for the fourth time. Pursuant to its mandate, the Working Group continued its consideration of draft provisions for one new instrument on legal parentage generally, including legal parentage resulting from an international surrogacy agreement. More information is available here.
On 30 April 2025, the seventh meeting of the Working Group established to complete the Country Profile and work on the draft Cooperation Request Recommended Model Form for the 1996 Child Protection Convention was held online, hosted by the Permanent Bureau. More information is available here.
Upcoming Events
The webinar “HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention: Bridging Global Justice” will be held via Zoom on Tuesday 6 May 2025 from 4.00 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. (Hong Kong time), hosted by the HCCH’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. Interested persons should register no later than this Friday, 2 May 2025, at 5.00 p.m. (Hong Kong time). More information is available here.
These monthly updates are published by the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), providing an overview of the latest developments. More information and materials are available on the HCCH website.
Report from the inaugural conference of the Australasian Association of Private International Law (AAPrIL)
On 16 and 17 April 2025, the Australasian Association of Private International Law (AAPrIL) held its inaugural conference in Brisbane, Australia. Hosted by Griffith University—the home of AAPrIL President Mary Keyes—the conference featured stimulating panel presentations from speakers from around Australia and abroad.
The conference started with a panel on jurisdiction and judgments, chaired by Richard Garnett of Melbourne Law School. Reid Mortensen of USQ kicked things off with a presentation on Australia’s cross-vesting scheme. Priskila Penasthika of the Universitas Indonesia then spoke on ‘The Indonesian Language Contract Requirements versus Arbitration as a Choice of Forum’. Read more