Jurisdiction under the Hague Convention on choice of court agreements: a critique

Abstract

The Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements entered into force in 28 Contracting States, including Mexico and all the Member States of the European Union, except Denmark, on 1 October 2015. Singapore ratified the Convention on 2 June 2016 and the Convention applies between Singapore and the other Contracting States from 1 October 2016. The Convention was drafted with ambitious goals to increase judicial co-operation on issues of jurisdiction and recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Having examined provisions of the Convention relation to the jurisdictional issue, however, the authors argue in this article that these provisions are likely to produce outcomes that are in stark contrast with the overall goal of the Convention.