EU involvement in efforts to unify the rules of private international law

SUMMARY OF:

Decision 2006/719/EC — accession to the Hague Conference on Private International Law

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE DECISION?

It enabled the European Community (now the European Union) to accede to the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH)*.
The purpose of the HCCH is to work for the progressive unification of the rules of private international law* in the participating countries.

KEY POINTS

The EU participates in the HCCH as a full member. This decision is not binding on Denmark, which has an opt-out from the area of freedom, security and justice and participates in its own right.
The EU deposited a declaration of competence (Annex II), specifying what it has been transferred competence for by the EU countries (except Denmark). These are measures in the field of judicial cooperation in civil matters that have cross-border implications and are necessary for the good functioning of the internal market. Furthermore, the EU has external competences — some of which are exclusive — as clarified by the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Conventions of the HCCH, for example in the fields of the jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, can fall within these competences.

In another declaration (Annex III), the EU undertook to examine whether it is in its best interest to join existing Hague conventions where it has competence.

FROM WHEN DOES THE DECISION APPLY?

The EU has been a member of the HCCH since 3 April 2007.

BACKGROUND

On 28 November 2002, the Council authorised the European Commission to negotiate the conditions and modalities of accession to the HCCH.
The statute of the HCCH had to be amended to allow the EU — a regional economic integration organisation — to accede. In June 2005, the diplomatic conference of the HCCH adopted the necessary amendments by consensus.
Following the successful negotiations with the HCCH, the Commission tabled a proposal for this Council decision on the accession of the European Community (now the European Union) to the HCCH. The European Parliament gave its assent in September 2006.
82 countries plus the EU are members of the HCCH.

KEY TERMS

Hague Conference on Private International Law: an international intergovernmental organisation working for the progressive unification of the rules of private international law in the participating countries. It prepares multilateral legal instruments (including non-binding instruments) and provides the necessary follow-up.

Private international law: also known as conflict of laws, it is a set of rules of procedural law that determines which legal system governs and which law of which country applies to a given legal dispute. These rules apply when a legal dispute has an international element, such as a contract agreed by parties located in different states.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Council Decision 2006/719/EC of 5 October 2006 on the accession of the Community to the Hague Conference on Private International Law (OJ L 297, 26.10.2006, pp. 1-14)

last update 04.12.2017