Document ID: 32009D0397

COUNCIL DECISION
of 26 February 2009
on the signing on behalf of the European Community of the Convention on Choice of Court Agreements
(2009/397/EC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 61(c) in conjunction with the first sentence of the second paragraph of Article 300 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Whereas:
(1)
The Community is working towards the establishment of a common judicial area based on the principle of mutual recognition of judicial decisions.
(2)
The Convention on Choice of Court Agreements concluded on 30 June 2005 under The Hague Conference on Private International Law, (hereinafter referred to as the Convention) makes a valuable contribution to promoting party autonomy in international commercial transactions and increasing the predictability of judicial solutions in such transactions.
(3)
The Convention affects Community secondary legislation on jurisdiction based on choice by the parties and the recognition and enforcement of the resulting judgments, in particular Council Regulation (EC) 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (1).
(4)
The Community has exclusive competence in all matters governed by the Convention.
(5)
Article 30 of the Convention allows the Community to sign, accept, approve or accede to the Convention.
(6)
The United Kingdom and Ireland are taking part in the adoption and application of this Decision.
(7)
In accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of the Protocol on the position of Denmark annexed to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, Denmark is not taking part in the adoption of this Decision and is not bound by it nor subject to its application.
(8)
The Convention should be signed and the attached declaration be approved,
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1
The signing of the Convention on Choice of Court Agreements concluded at The Hague on 30 June 2005 is hereby approved on behalf of the European Community, subject to the conclusion of the Convention at a later date.
The text of the Convention is attached to this Decision as Annex I.
Article 2
The President of the Council is hereby authorised to designate the person(s) empowered to sign the Convention on behalf of the Community and to make the declaration set out in Annex II to this Decision.
Article 3
This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Done at Brussels, 26 February 2009.

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