The 2019 HCCH Judgments Convention has come into force in the UK – an easy road ahead for the enforcement of foreign judgments?

The Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters 2019 (the “Convention”) came into force in the UK on 1 July 2025. The Convention will ensure reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments between the UK and other contracting states which includes the EU (apart from Denmark) given in proceedings commenced on or after 1 July 2025. This is a welcome and important development for those trying to enforce UK court judgments in the courts of EU member states (and vice a versa) as most of the reciprocal enforcement arrangements between the UK and the EU had fallen away as a result of Brexit.

Purpose and Scope of the Convention

The purpose of the Convention is to facilitate and simplify global cross-border recognition and enforcement of civil or commercial judgments. It was introduced to address the growing frustration among businesses operating across borders regarding the time, cost, and complexity of enforcing judgments across borders.

The Convention’s scope is intentionally focused on civil and commercial judgments, with a judgment being defined as "any decision on the merits given by a court" and includes non-monetary awards such as final injunctions. It also covers all types of jurisdiction clauses including agreements which contain asymmetric, non-exclusive and exclusive jurisdiction clauses. However, it should be noted that the Convention does expressly exclude family law matters, arbitration, insolvency proceedings, wills and succession, defamation and privacy claims and certain intellectual property disputes. It is therefore important that parties consider whether the judgment falls within the scope of the Convention before relying on its provisions. 

Parties to the Convention

Originally intended to apply only in England and Wales, the UK extended the scope of the Convention on 26 March 2025 so that it also takes effect in Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

Now that the Convention is in force in the UK, it has established reciprocal enforcement relations with the other contracting parties which include the EU member states (apart from Denmark) and the Ukraine and Uruguay. This means that under the Convention’s rules, court judgments issued by UK courts are now eligible for recognition and enforcement throughout these jurisdictions from 1 July 2025. The Convention only covers cases where legal proceedings are commenced on or after a state’s respective start date. Parties with ongoing proceedings or older judgments handed down by UK courts will not be able to rely on the Convention but will instead have to follow other enforcement mechanisms available. 

The number of parties to the Convention is expanding and it will come into effect in Albania, Montenegro and Andorra in 2026. A number of other countries have signed but not yet ratified the Convention including the United States, China, Russia, Montenegro, Israel, Costa Rica and North Macedonia. 

Enforcing a Judgment under the Convention

To enforce a foreign judgment pursuant to the Convention, the judgment must be recognised as a judgment (as defined under the Convention – see above) in the originating state and must fall within one of the bases of recognition set out in Article 5. As long as it does so, there will be no review of its merits.   Enforcement may only be refused on the basis of one of the grounds set out in Article 7. These include procedural deficiencies in the documents originating the claim, the judgment being obtained by fraud, public policy reasons, or previous or ongoing proceedings on the same subject matter in another state or in the state in which enforcement is requested. 

The party seeking enforcement must provide a certified copy of the judgment, a certified translation (where necessary), proof of its enforceability, and evidence of proper notification of the defendant in case of a default judgment. Thereafter, all procedures, including registration and enforcement, generally follow the requested State’s laws unless otherwise specified by the Convention. 

Significance to businesses

At a high level, the Convention is expected to deliver many advantages to the UK. By providing a standard process for recognising and enforcing judgments across contracting states, the Convention establishes a reliable framework that reduces both the cost and length of cross-border litigation. The aim is that this in turn will support international trade and investment. 

Following Brexit, the UK lost the streamlined enforcement avenues provided by the Brussels I Recast Regulation and the Lugano Convention between it and EU member states. Instead, it was left with a patchwork of national enforcement options via bi-lateral treaties, the common law and in the case of exclusive jurisdiction clauses only, reciprocal enforcement under the 2005 Hague Choice of Court Convention. 

Although the Convention helps fill this gap, it does not offer automatic recognition and enforcement of judgments, instead it is reciprocal enforcement, as explained in the section above. Parties should note that there is still no reciprocal enforcement of judgments, apart from those which fall within the 2005 Hague Choice of Court Convention, for those proceedings issued prior to 1 July 2025. This necessitates careful consideration of existing arrangements. 

Next steps

As the Convention applies in a wide number of contexts, parties currently negotiating contracts now have a broader number of options when deciding which type of jurisdiction clause to agree to as they can now include non-exclusive and asymmetric jurisdiction clauses with the knowledge that these will be enforced by the courts of EU member states and the courts of the Ukraine and Uruguay. Considerations such as where the other party’s assets are located are still an important factor in making this choice, especially as the Convention is still limited in its jurisdictional scope but there is now certainty and clarity that enforcement of judgments will be easier than it has been between the UK and parties based in the EU.  

However, parties with judgments handed down prior to 1 July 2025 or with on-going disputes, or those with judgments outside the scope of the Convention, will need to make informed considerations about which enforcement route to take.

Looking ahead, the Convention promises to simplify and accelerate the recognition and enforcement of civil and commercial judgments across borders, thereby reducing litigation costs and legal uncertainty. If more states ratify the Convention, including the United States, this will further foster the reputation of the Convention by establishing a strong unified enforcement framework between the US, the UK, and the EU, similar to the New York Convention which has done much to strengthen cross-border enforcement for arbitration awards. 

Please get in touch with the authors of this article, or your usual Bird & Bird disputes contact if you would like to discuss how the coming into force of the Convention may impact your commercial agreement, dispute or judgment. 

If you would like to read more about the Convention, please see our previous articles here: 

• Impact of the EU acceding to The 2019 Hague Judgments Convention - Bird & Bird 
• The Hague Judgments Convention has entered into force between EU Member States and Ukraine - Bird & Bird

With thanks to Hiba Abdi for her help in drafting this article.