LESSONS FROM THE FAILURE OF THE JUDGMENTS PROJECT (1992–2001)

The original Judgments Project of the Hague Conference, which had consumed almost 10 years of work on the part of the Hague Conference Member States and the Permanent Bureau, was a missed opportunity to create an international convention regulating both the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and international direct jurisdiction. This was not due to the unsuitability of the Hague Conference as a forum for creating a global judgments convention. The Hague Conference was an entirely suitable forum due to its unique experience in and proven track record of concluding successful conventions which harmonised rules of private international law. Moreover, the Project did not fail because unifying grounds of jurisdiction on a broad scale and on a global level was impossible. Rather, the Judgments Project did not lead to the adoption of a convention text by the Hague Conference Member States because the pre-negotiation phase of the project (between 1992 and 1999) had not been prepared and managed by the Permanent Bureau with the same rigour as other Hague Conference projects.

If the Permanent Bureau had more closely adhered to well-established management practices and procedures employed for other Hague Conventions, the Special Commission meetings would not have pursued the goal of working towards an unfeasible convention type in the form of a closed double convention as a first priority.