Russia signs the 2019 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments

On 17 November 2021, the Russian Federation signed the Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (Convention)¹. Russia is now the fifth state to sign the Convention along with Costa Rica, Israel, Ukraine and Uruguay, although no country has ratified the Convention and it has yet to enter into force.

The Convention was adopted on 2 July 2019 at the 22nd diplomatic session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) and has been described as a “game changer” for cross-border dispute settlement, as it provides a relatively simple set of rules on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgements in civil and commercial matters. Under the Convention, a judgment given by a court of a Contracting State (State of origin) shall in principle be recognised and enforced in another Contracting State (requested State) if one of the conditions set out in Article 5 of the Convention is met. The requested State is not allowed to re-examine the judgment and may only refuse recognition and enforcement on the grounds exhaustively listed in Article 7 of the Convention (inter alia, if the judgment was obtained by fraud or if procedural pleadings were served late or unlawfully).

The uniform approach of the Convention can greatly facilitate the procedure for recognising and enforcing foreign judgements, which is currently governed by multiple international treaties and domestic laws and therefore frequently complicated and time-consuming.

However, whether the Convention will eventually become a true “game-changer” remains to be seen and depends on how many more states will sign and ratify it in the future and what declarations (if any) these states will make.

We advise you to consult your legal counsel to understand how the abovementioned news may work in your situation.