Resumen de Notification as a Ground for Refusal

Niklaus Meier

• The Hague Judgments Convention, which facilitates the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, provides for several grounds for the refusal of recognition, including refusal based on insufficient notification. While this ground for refusal of the Judgments Convention seems quite similar to those applied in other conventions, the comparison shows that there are several differences between the Judgments Convention and other texts of reference, both with respect to the context of application as well as with respect to the details of the wording. The optional nature of the grounds for refusal under the Judgments Convention indicates that its primary focus is the free circulation of judgments, and not the protection of the defendant. The latter’s protection is left to the discretion of the state of recognition: a sign of trust amongst the negotiators of the Judgments Convention, but also a risk for the defendant. Practice will show whether the focus of the negotiators was justified.