Henrik Spang-Hanssen

hssph "at" yahoo "dot" com

INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION ON EXTRATERRITORIAL VALIDITY OF FOREIGN JUDGMENTS AND ARBITRAL AWARDS

"Montevideo Convention of 1979"

Done May 8, 1979

Into force June 14, 1980

Doc. No. OEA/Ser. A/28 (SEPF), 18 I.L.M. 1224, http://www.ftaa-alca.org/busfac/comarb/intl_conv /caicmoe.asp#fjaat(visited 12 December 2003)

As of December 2003 the convention is in force in the following countries - with different declarations (for updates, see http://www.ftaa-alca.org /busfac/comarb/intl_conv/caicmoe.asp#fjaat): Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The Governments of the Member States of the Organization of American States,

CONSIDERING that the administration of justice in the American States requires their mutual cooperation for the purpose of ensuring the extraterritorial validity of judgments and arbitral awards rendered in their respective territorial jurisdictions as follows:

Article 1
This Convention shall apply to judgments and arbitral awards rendered in civil, commercial or labor proceedings in one of the States Parties, unless at the time of ratification it makes an express reservation to limit the Convention to compensatory judgments (sentencias de condena) involving property. In addition, any one of them may declare, when ratifying the Convention, that is also applies to rulings that end proceedings, to the decisions of authorities that exercise some jurisdictional function and to judgments in penal proceedings ordering compensation for damages resulting from an offense.
The rules of this Convention shall apply to arbitral awards in all matters not covered by the Inter-American Convention on International Commercial Arbitration, signed in Panama on January 30, 1975.

Article 2
The foreign judgments, awards and decisions referred to in Article 1 shall have extraterritorial validity in the States Parties if they meet the following conditions:

a. They fulfill all the formal requirements necessary for them to be deemed authentic in the State of origin;
b. The judgment, award or decision and the documents attached thereto that are required under this Convention are duly translated into the official language of the State where they are to take effect;
c. They are presented duly legalized in accordance with the law of the State in which they are to take effect;
d. The judge or tribunal rendering the judgment is competent in the international sphere to try the matter and to pass judgment on it in accordance with the law of the State in which the judgment, award or decision is to take effect;
e. The plaintiff has been summoned or subpoenaed in due legal form substantially equivalent to that accepted by the law of the State where the judgment, award or decision is to take effect;
f. The parties had an opportunity to present their defense;
g. They are final or, where appropriate have the force of res judicata in the State in which they were rendered;
h. They are not manifestly contrary to the principles and laws of the public policy (ordre public) of the State in which recognition of execution is sought.

Article 3
The documents of proof required to request execution of judgments, awards and decisions are as follows: a. A certified copy of the judgment, award or decision; b. A certified copy of the documents proving that the provisions of items (e) and (f) of the foregoing article have been compiled with; and c. A certified copy of the document stating that the judgment, award or decision is final or has the force of res judicata.

Article 4
If a foreign judgment, award or decision cannot be executed in its entirety, the judge or tribunal may agree to its partial execution at the request of an interested party.

Article 5
The declaration in forma pauperis recognized in the State of origin of the judgment shall be recognized in the State of destination.

Article 6
The procedures for ensuring the validity of foreign judgments, awards and decisions, including the jurisdiction of the respective judges and tribunals, shall be governed by the law of the State in which execution is sought.

Article 7
This Convention shall be open for signature by the Member States of the Organization of American States.

Article 8
This Convention is subject to ratification. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States.

Article 9
This Convention shall remain open for accession by any other State. The instrument of accession shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States.

Article 10
Each State may, at the time of signature, ratification or accession, make reservations to this Convention, provided that each reservation concerns one or more specific provisions and is not incompatible with the object and purpose of the Convention.

Article 11
This Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day following the date of deposit of the second instrument of ratification. For each State ratifying or acceding to the Convention after the deposit of the second instrument of ratification, the Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after deposit by such State of its instrument of ratification or accession.

Article 12
If a State Party has two or more territorial units in which different systems of law apply in relation to the matters dealt with in this Convention, it may, at the time of signature, ratification or accession, declare that this Convention shall extend to all its territorial units or only to one or more of them. Such declaration may be modified by subsequent declarations, which shall expressly indicate the territorial unit or units to which this Convention applies. Such subsequent declarations shall be transmitted to the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States and shall become effective thirty days after the date of their receipt.

Article 13
This Convention shall remain in force indefinitely, but any of the States Parties may denounce it. The instrument of denunciation shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States. After one year from the date of deposit of the instrument of denunciation, the Convention shall no longer be in effect for the denouncing State, but shall remain in effect for the other States Parties.

Article 14
The original instrument of this Convention, the English, French, Portuguese and Spanish texts of which are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States, which will forward an authenticated copy of its text to the Secretariat of the United Nations for registration and publication in accordance with Article 102 of its Charter. The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States shall notify the Member States of that Organization and the States that have acceded to the Convention of the signatures, deposits of instruments of ratification, accession and denunciation as well as of reservations, if any. It shall also transmit the declarations referred to in Article 12 of this Convention.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, being duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed this Convention.

DONE AT MONTEVIDEO, Republic of Uruguay, this eighth day of May, one thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine.