# Hague Choice of Court Convention

The Hague choice of court convention, formally the Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements, is an international treaty concluded within the Hague Conference on Private International Law. It was concluded in 2005, and entered into force on 1 October 2015. Albania, the European Union (covering the European territory of all member states except Denmark), Denmark, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Singapore, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom are parties to the convention. China, Costa Rica, Israel, Kosovo and the United States signed the convention, but did not ratify.
Parties under the convention recognize a choice of court agreement between parties in the field of civil law and thus courts not chosen in the agreement will stay all proceedings, unless the chosen court refuses to uphold the jurisdiction. For the convention choice of court agreements must be "exclusive", which means in the context of the convention that also a group of courts may be chosen, as long as they are in the same country. It is not required for a choice of court agreement to explicitly state that the agreement is exclusive; designating a specific (set of) courts will automatically render it exclusive.
Judgments by the chosen court must be recognized in all states where the convention is applicable.

## History

The Hague Conference started with the "Judgements project" in 1996: the development of a convention regarding jurisdiction and recognition of judgements. Jurisdiction within such a convention would be classified in three categories: bases of jurisdiction which were obligatory, optional or prohibited. As the negotiators were not able to come to a consensus on such a convention, the scope of the work was reduced to jurisdiction and recognition of decisions based on a choice of court agreement between the parties. During the negotiations parallels were drawn between the New York Convention on arbitral awards: the aim was to create a system of recognition of decisions based on court cases where the court was chosen pursuant to a choice of court agreements, which would create the same level of predictability and enforceability as is the case in arbitral awards in New York Convention states.

## Parties

| State | Signature | Ratification/ Accession | Entry into force | Comments |
| Albania | 13 February 2024 | 25 June 2024 | 1 October 2024 | |
| China | 12 September 2017 | | | |
| Costa Rica | 5 March 2025 | | | |
| Denmark | | 30 May 2018 | 1 September 2018 | does not apply to certain insurance contracts and to the Faroe Islands and Greenland |
| European Union | 1 April 2009 | 11 June 2015 | 1 October 2015 | EU territory of all member states except Denmark, included the UK until 2021; does not apply to certain insurance contracts |
| Israel | 3 March 2021 | | | |
| Kosovo | 19 September 2024 | | | |
| Mexico | | 26 September 2007 | 1 October 2015 | |
| Moldova | | 14 March 2024 | 1 July 2024 | does not apply to certain insurance contracts |
| Montenegro | 5 October 2017 | 18 April 2018 | 1 August 2018 | |
| North Macedonia | 9 December 2019 | 21 November 2024 | 1 March 2025 | |
| Singapore | 25 March 2015 | 2 June 2016 | 1 October 2016 | |
| Switzerland | | 18 September 2024 | 1 January 2025 | including non-exclusive agreements |
| Ukraine | 21 March 2016 | 28 April 2023 | 1 August 2023 | |
| United Kingdom | | 28 September 2020 | 1 January 2021 | From 1 October 2015 to 31 December 2020 the UK was included in EU membership of the convention. Includes Gibraltar |
| United States | 19 January 2009 | | | |