HAGUE CONVENTION ON FORUM ELECTION AGREEMENTS IN THE TRADE BETWEEN EUROPE AND MEXICO

Abstract

In autonomous Mexican law, there are several obstacles to the validity and efficiency of choice of court agreements in favour of foreign courts and to the free circulation of judgments. This may have a negative impact on commercial relations with States of the European Union (EU). These obstacles are mainly due to a negative attitude of some Mexican Federal States towards such agreements and to some antiquated conditions for the enforcement of foreign judgments such as letters rogatory issued by the judge of origin, international reciprocity and the need for a declaration of enforceability in an exequatur proceeding. These problems can be largely solved by the Hague Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements with its three basic principles: the chosen court must hear the case when proceedings are brought before it; any other court before which proceedings are brought must refuse to hear them; and the judgment of the chosen court must be recognised and enforced in every other Member State. This Convention applies to choice of court agreements in favour of Mexican and EU courts. Its solutions will be demonstrated by a practical german-mexican case. Nevertheless, some problems remain unsolved: First, the procedure for recognition is largely governed by the law of the requested State; this allows the latter to still apply the exequatur proceeding. Secondly, the material and territorial scope of application of the Convention is quite limited; therefore, one can hope that in the future more States will accede to the Convention.