Each year, the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HccH) holds its General Council on General Affairs and Policy, in the presence of representatives from each member state of this secular organization. Like every year, UIHJ is invited to attend the meeting. Mathieu Chardon, first secretary of the UIHJ represented our organization. Our colleague Rene Duperray, former secretary general of the UIHJ also went on site to produce a film report on The Hague Conference and an interview with its secretary general, Hans van Loon. This report is part of the work of the next International Congress of UIHJ to be held in Cape Town (South Africa) the first week of May 2012.
The Council was organized by the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference and was held in the presence of Hans van Loon, Christophe Bernasconi, first secretary, and Antti Leinonen (Finland) who chaired the meeting.
Among the conclusions reached at the meeting, it may be noted the one concerning the continuation of the Judgments Project. A small expert group should be set up to explore the background of the Judgments Project and recent developments with the aim to assess the possible merits of resuming the Judgments Project. The Permanent Bureau should report back to the Council in 2012 on progress.
The Council also invited the Permanent Bureau to continue to follow developments, particularly in the following areas:
- questions of private international law raised by the information society, including electronic commerce, e-justice and data protection;
- jurisdiction, and recognition and enforcement of decisions in matters of succession upon death;
- jurisdiction, applicable law, and recognition and enforcement of judgments in respect of unmarried couples;
- assessment and analysis of transnational legal issues relating to indirectly held securities, security interests and netting of financial instruments, taking into account in particular the work undertaken by other international organisations.
Among the projects is that of access to the content of foreign law and the need to develop a global instrument in this area. It was however decided to revisit the issue at its next meeting.
The e-APP was also discussed. The Apostille is a method that allows an authentic document issued in a state to be recognized and used in another state, without any need for a complicated and expensive recognition procedure. The convention of 5 October 1961 abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents, the "Apostille Convention", is the work of The Hague Conference on Private International Law. It is currently used by 101 states. Among the thirty-nine conventions of the Hague Conference, it is the most widely used worldwide. The Hague Conference initiated in 2006 a large movement to help the Apostille enter the digital age. The e-APP (for e-Apostille Pilot Program) Project is to coordinate the actions of states to develop and harmonize an electronic Apostille. It is planned for a period of eighteen months. Spain is a partner in the project. Finland, France and the Czech Republic are associate partners.
A first regional seminar was held in Finland in Helsinki in February 2011 (see our article on our site). A short film about the implementation of the e-APP in Spain was shown.
Finally, three new Member States of the Hague Conference were welcomed during the Council: the Philippines, Mauritius and Costa Rica. It was also announced that Burkina Faso had submitted its candidacy as a member of the Hague Conference.
Focus
