European Union Approves Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements

On June 11, 2015, the European Union approved the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements (the “Convention”), triggering the countdown to the Convention’s entry into force, which is scheduled to occur on October 1, 2015. The Convention aims to ensure that, where commercial parties have agreed to resolve their disputes exclusively in a specific court, that agreement will be honored and a judgment subsequently rendered by the chosen court will be widely recognized and enforced. The goal is to put into place an international legal foundation for choice of court agreements similar to that established for arbitration agreements by the New York Convention. This Alert highlights some of the Convention’s key provisions and discusses its potential impact on the enforceability of choice of court agreements.