Scope of Application: Challenges, Compromises and Chances

Abstract

The establishment of the Judgments Convention is a hallmark for the global recognition and enforcement of judgments. The difficult road to establishing such global instrument has, however, also left its mark on the scope of the Convention. Compromises were necessary to avoid controversial topics and to promote the ratification of the Convention. This chapter discusses the scope of application of the Judgments Convention, and the challenges and - considering the great number of excluded matters - the compromises that had to be made in order to adopt the Convention. Despite the number of exclusions, possible declarations and inherent flaws, the Judgments Convention is an important step in invigorating global judicial cooperation. It provides chances for litigation for parties that do not want to or cannot make use of arbitration. Also in view of the increasing number of international commercial courts, offering more tailor-made procedures to business litigants in State courts, this new Convention is a much-needed addition to an international global dispute resolution framework. The success of the Convention will to a great extent depend on the number of ratifications and its application in practice.

Keywords: private international law, recognition and enforcement, Judgments Convention, scope of application, commercial litigation, global cooperation

JEL Classification: K12, K20, K33, K41