Abbreviation | HCCH |
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Formation | 1893 |
Founder | Tobias Asser |
Type | Intergovernmental organisation |
Headquarters | The Hague |
Membership | 91 members (90 member states and the European Union) |
Official language | English French Spanish |
Secretary General | Christophe Bernasconi |
Budget (2023–2024) | € 5.0 million [1] |
Staff (2023) | 31 staff members 6 secondees 44 interns [1] |
Website | hcch |
Conflict of laws and private international law |
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Preliminaries |
Definitional elements |
Connecting factors |
Substantive legal areas |
Enforcement |
The Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) is an intergovernmental organisation in the area of private international law (also known as conflict of laws), that administers several international conventions, protocols and soft law instruments.
The Hague Conference was first convened by Tobias Asser in 1893 in The Hague. In 1911, Asser received the Nobel Prize for Peace for his work in the field of private international law, and in particular for his achievements with respect to the HCCH. After World War II, the Hague Conference was established as an international organisation.
On the initiative of Tobias Asser, the First Diplomatic Session of the HCCH was convoked in 1893. Its aim was, and remains, to "work for the progressive unification of the rules of private international law", including by creating, and assisting in the implementation of, multilateral conventions that promote the harmonisation of the rules and principles of private international law (or conflict of laws).
The First to Fourth Diplomatic Session of the HCCH took place in 1893, 1894, 1900 and 1904 respectively. They resulted in a number of multilateral treaties, the Hague Conventions, that unified the rules of private international law in the areas of Marriage (1902), Divorce (1902), Guardianship (1902), Civil procedure (1905), Effects of Marriage (1905), and Deprivation of Civil Rights (1905).
After World War I, the Fifth and Sixth Diplomatic Sessions took place in 1925 and 1928 respectively. The result of those Diplomatic Sessions was the Protocol to recognise the competence of the Permanent Court of International Justice to interpret the Hague Conventions on Private International Law.
After World War II, steps were taken to establish the HCCH as an intergovernmental organisation, governed by its member states and administered by a secretariat, the Permanent Bureau. The treaty establishing the HCCH, the "Statute of the Hague Conference on Private International Law", was adopted during the Seventh Diplomatic Session of the HCCH in 1951, and entered into force on 15 July 1955.
The organisation used French as its only official language until 1964, when English was added as its second official language. [2] The acronym HCCH is derived from the name of the organisation in these two languages (Hague Conference –Conférence de La Haye). [3] In 2024, Spanish was added as the third official language. [4]
As of 2024, the HCCH has 91 members: 90 member states and one Regional Economic Integration Organisation (REIO), the European Union. [5]
The member states contribute to the expenses of the HCCH through their assessed contributions, which are due annually. The EU also contributes on the basis of contributions that are agreed. The Regulations on Financial Matters and Budgetary Practices of the Hague Conference on Private International Law provide the details in this regard.
Membership in the HCCH is not a precondition for signing, ratifying, or acceding to one or more Hague Conventions, and a total of 67 non-member states are parties to one or more conventions. The HCCH identifies them as "connected parties". [6]
The HCCH acts through several governing bodies, which are established under the Statute.
The Council on General Affairs and Policy is composed of all members. It is in charge of the operation of the HCCH and its meetings are currently held annually. Through the HCCH's secretariat, the Permanent Bureau, the Council on General Affairs and Policy ensures such operation, including by establishing the HCCH's work programme.
The Council of Diplomatic Representatives, composed of all member states, is the supreme financial and budgetary authority of the Conference and exercises oversight of the financial administration of the Conference.
Other bodies include the Netherlands Standing Government Committee (instituted by decree on 20 February 1897 to promote the codification of private international law), the Special Commissions, and the Diplomatic Sessions.
The secretariat of the HCCH, the Permanent Bureau, is established by the Statute of the HCCH. Under the direction of the HCCH's highest governing body, the Council on General Affairs and Policy, the Permanent Bureau is charged with the preparation and organisation of the Sessions of the Hague Conference and the meetings of the Council and any Special Commissions; the work of the Secretariat of the Sessions and meetings; as well as all the tasks which are included in the activity of a secretariat.
The Permanent Bureau operates three offices, including the organisation's headquarters in The Hague, as well as its regional offices in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Hong Kong SAR.
Since 1955, the HCCH developed 40 international conventions and protocols that establish rules on jurisdiction, applicable law, the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, and on legal and judicial cooperation. [7] They are open for adoption, accession or ratification by any State, including States that are not members of HCCH.
In 2015, the HCCH adopted its first soft-law instrument, the Hague Principles on the Choice of Law in International Commercial Contracts. [8]
The HCCH's instruments cover subject matters in the area of family law and child protection, international civil procedure and legal cooperation, as well as cross-border commercial and finance law. These areas are often referred to as the "three pillars" of the HCCH. The following HCCH conventions are the most ratified:
The most recently concluded Hague convention is the Hague Judgments Convention, adopted on 2 July 2019.
The HCCH has developed several tools in order to aid in the application of its Conventions.
INCADAT [9] is a legal database on international child abduction law containing case summaries and legal analysis of the application of the 1980 Child Abduction Convention. The website also provides additional material relevant to this area of law.
iSupport [10] is an electronic case management and secure communication system for the cross-border recovery of maintenance obligations under the EU 2009 Maintenance regulation and the 2007 Hague Child Support Convention. In 2016 a second EU-funded project, iSupport 2.0, started. The two main aspects of this project, which will last until 2018, are the extension of iSupport to other countries and its consolidation with new functionalities.
e-App [11] was created in support of the 1961 Apostille Convention. Its aim is to promote and assist in the implementation of low-cost, operational and secure software technology for the issuance of electronic Apostilles and for the operation of electronic registers of Apostilles that can be accessed online by recipients to verify the origin of paper Apostilles or e-Apostilles they have received.
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998 and it entered into force on 1 July 2002. As of February 2024, 124 states are party to the statute. Among other things, it establishes court function, jurisdiction and structure.
Tobias Michael Carel Asser was a Dutch lawyer and legal scholar. In 1911, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the field of private international law, and in particular for his achievements establishing the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH).
Hague Convention may refer to:
The Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, also known as the Apostille Convention, is an international treaty drafted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). The Apostille Convention is intended to simplify the procedure through which a document, issued in one of the contracting states, can be certified for legal purposes in the other contracting states of the Convention. A certification under the Convention is called an apostille or Hague apostille. An apostille is an international certification comparable to a notarisation, and may supplement a local notarisation of the document. If the Convention applies between two states, an apostille issued by the state of origin is sufficient to certify the document, and removes the need for further certification by the destination state.
International adoption is a type of adoption in which an individual or couple residing in one country becomes the legal and permanent parent(s) of a child who is a national of another country. In general, prospective adoptive parents must meet the legal adoption requirements of their country of residence and those of the country whose nationality the child holds.
UNIDROIT is an intergovernmental organization whose objective is to harmonize private international law across countries through uniform rules, international conventions, and the production of model laws, sets of principles, guides and guidelines. Established in 1926 as part of the League of Nations, it was reestablished in 1940 following the League's dissolution through a multilateral agreement, the UNIDROIT Statute. As of 2023 UNIDROIT has 65 member states.
In conflict of laws, habitual residence is the standard used to determine the law which should be applied to determine a given legal dispute or entitlement. It can be contrasted with the law on domicile, traditionally used in common law jurisdictions to do the same thing.
In international law, documentlegalization is the process of authenticating or certifying a document so it can be accepted in another country.
The Hague Convention on parental responsibility and protection of children, or Hague Convention 1996, officially Convention of 19 October 1996 on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children or Hague Convention 1996 is a convention of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. It covers civil measures of protection concerning children, ranging from orders concerning parental responsibility and contact to public measures of protection or care, and from matters of representation to the protection of children's property. It is therefore much broader in scope than two earlier conventions of the HCCH on the subject.
The Blue Shield, formerly the International Committee of the Blue Shield, is an international organization founded in 1996 to protect the world's cultural heritage from threats such as armed conflict and natural disasters. Originally intended as the "cultural equivalent of the Red Cross", its name derives from the blue shield symbol designed by Jan Zachwatowicz, used to signify cultural sites protected by the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict.
The Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment, or Cape Town Treaty, is an international treaty intended to standardize transactions involving movable property. The treaty creates international standards for registration of contracts of sale, security interests (liens), leases and conditional sales contracts, and various legal remedies for default in financing agreements, including repossession and the effect of particular states' bankruptcy laws.
The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption is an international convention dealing with international adoption, child laundering, and child trafficking in an effort to protect those involved from the corruption, abuses, and exploitation which sometimes accompanies international adoption. The convention has been considered crucial because it provides a formal international and intergovernmental recognition of intercountry adoption to ensure that adoptions under the convention will generally be recognized and given effect in other party countries.
International matrimonial law is an area of private international law. The area specifically deals with relations between spouses and former spouses on issues of marriage, divorce and child custody. In the last 50 years, the States Members of the Hague Conference on Private International Law have attempted to harmonize domestic matrimonial laws and judicial rulings across international borders in these areas.
The term international child abduction is generally synonymous with international parental kidnapping,child snatching, and child stealing.
The Inter-American Convention on the International Return of Children is a treaty of the Organization of American States and was adopted at Montevideo, Uruguay on July 15, 1989, at the Fourth Inter-American Specialized Conference On Private International Law. Its entry into force was November 4, 1994.
As a result of its high level of immigration and emigration and its status as common source and destination for a large amount of international travel the United States has more incoming and outgoing international child abductions per year than any other country. To address this issue the United States played an active role in the drafting of the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Although the United States was one of the first nations to sign the Convention in 1981 the Convention did not enter into force for the US until 1988 with the enactment by Congress of the International Child Abduction Remedies Act which translated the Convention into US law.
The Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, also referred to as the Hague Maintenance Convention or the Hague Child Support Convention is a multilateral treaty governing the enforcement of judicial decisions regarding child support extraterritorially. It is one of a number of conventions in the area of private international law of the Hague Conference on Private International Law in 2007. The convention is open to all states as well as to Regional Economic Integration Organizations as long as they are composed of sovereign states only and have sovereignty in the content of the convention. The convention entered into force on 1 January 2013 between Norway and Albania, with Bosnia-Herzegovina (2013), Ukraine (2013), the European Union, Montenegro (2017), United States (2017), Turkey (2017), Kazakhstan (2017), Brazil (2017), Honduras (2017), Belarus (2018), Guyana (2020), Nicaragua (2020), United Kingdom (2021), Serbia (2021), New Zealand (2021), Ecuador (2022), Botswana (2022), Philippines (2022), Azerbaijan (2023) and Canada following suit. Because the EU acceptance of the convention applies in 26 EU countries, the convention applies in 47 countries worldwide.
The Inter-American Convention on International Traffic in Minors is a treaty of the Organization of American States (OAS) that was adopted at Mexico City, Mexico, on March 19, 1994, at the Fifth Inter-American Specialized Conference On Private International Law.
The Hague Judgments Convention, formally the Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters is an international treaty concluded within the Hague Conference on Private International Law. It was concluded in 2019, and entered into force on 1 September 2023 for the European Union and Ukraine. The convention governs the recognition of judgements in civil and commercial matters.