Hague Service Convention

The Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters, more commonly called the Hague Service Convention, is a multilateral treaty that was adopted in The Hague, the Netherlands, on 15 November 1965 by member states of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. It came into existence to give litigants a reliable and efficient means of serving the documents on parties living, operating or based in another country. The provisions of the convention apply to service of process in civil and commercial matters but not criminal matters. Also, Article 1 states that the Convention shall not apply if the address of the person to be served with the document is not known.

Diplomatic service via letters rogatory

For states that are not party to the Hague Service Convention, diplomatic channels are generally used for the service of legal documents. It is generally effected by a letter rogatory, which is a formal request to issue a judicial order from a court in the state where proceedings are underway to a court in another state. This procedure generally requires transmission of the document to be served from the originating court to the foreign ministry in the state of origin. The foreign ministry in the state of origin forwards the request to the foreign ministry in the destination state. The foreign ministry then forwards the documents to the local court. The local court then makes an order to allow for the service. Once service is made, a certificate of service would then pass through the same channels in reverse. Under a somewhat more streamlined procedure, courts can sometimes forward service requests to the foreign ministry or the foreign court directly, cutting out one or more steps in the process.

Procedure

The Hague Service Convention established a more simplified means for parties to effect service in other contracting states. Under the convention, each contracting state is required to designate a central authority to accept incoming requests for service. A judicial officer who is competent to serve process in the state of origin is permitted to send request for service directly to the central authority of the state where service is to be made. Upon receiving the request, the central authority in the receiving state arranges for service in a manner permitted within the receiving state, typically through a local court. Once service is effected, the central authority sends a certificate of service to the judicial officer who made the request. Parties are required to use three standardized forms: a request for service, a summary of the proceedings (similar to a summons), and a certificate of service.

The main benefits of the Hague Service Convention over letters rogatory is that it is faster (requests generally take two to four months rather than six months to one year), it uses standardized forms that should be recognized by authorities in other states, and it is cheaper (in most cases) because service can be effected by a local attorney without hiring a foreign attorney to advise on foreign service procedures.

The Hague Service Convention does not prohibit a receiving state from permitting international service by methods otherwise authorized by domestic law. For example, a state could allow for service directly by mail or by personal service. States that permit parties to use these alternative means of service make a separate designation in the documents they file upon ratifying or acceding to the Convention.

Alternate methods of service

The Hague Convention provides various modes of process service of documents such as by postal channel or by diplomatic/consular agents, judicial officers, officials or other competent persons. These provisions are covered under Articles 8 to 10 and may or not be allowed by member countries as a valid mode of serving the documents in their territory. The method of serving the documents through a central agency (Article 5) is not optional but is binding on all the member countries. Service through a central agency usually takes a long time: 4 to 12 months. The convention gives relief to the litigants if they have not received certificate of service or delivery from the central agency even after waiting for six months. In such cases, the court may, if it considers that a reasonable time has elapsed, give its judgment. Also, in case of urgency, the court may issue a provisional order or protective measure even before six-month waiting period.

Central authority

Although the service is free, it may take 4 to 12 months for the central authority to process. The central authority decides which method is to be used. In many cases, a bailiff will be assigned by a local court to serve the documents and mail back the proof of service, but service by mail is also possible.

Service by mail

Service by mail is possible only in states that have not objected to that method under Article 10(a) of the convention and if the jurisdiction where the court case takes place allows it under its applicable law. It is therefore possible in France and the Netherlands but not in Germany, Switzerland, and South Korea, where incoming service is to be effected exclusively through the state's central authority.

In the United States, the interpretation of a provision in Article 10(a) has long been controversial, as the judiciary in some of its jurisdictions contended that service by mail was impossible because the word "send" rather than "serve" was used in the English-language version of the convention. The matter was finally resolved in May 2017 by the US Supreme Court in Water Splash, Inc. v. Menon, bringing the interpretation in line with parties in other US jurisdictions and the rest of the world.

Relation with other instruments

Under the convention, states may conclude different agreements between them that take precedence over the convention. Thus, in the European Union (except for Denmark) other rules are applied instead of the Convention.

State parties

since October 2024Template:Dated maintenance category (articles), 84 states are contracting parties of the Hague Service Convention.

State party	Signed	Ratified or acceded	Entry into force
Albania	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Andorra	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Antigua and Barbuda	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Argentina	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
ArmeniaTemplate:Efn	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
AustraliaTemplate:Efn	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Austria	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
AzerbaijanTemplate:Efn	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Bahamas, The	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Barbados	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Belarus	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Belgium	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Belize	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Bosnia and Herzegovina	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Botswana	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Brazil	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Bulgaria	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Canada	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
China	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Colombia	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Costa Rica	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Croatia	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Cyprus	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Czech Republic	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Denmark	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Dominican Republic	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Egypt	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
El Salvador	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Estonia	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Finland	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
France	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Template:Country data Georgia	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Germany	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Greece	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Hungary	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Iceland	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
India	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Ireland	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Israel	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Italy	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Japan	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Kazakhstan	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Korea, South	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Kuwait	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Latvia	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Lithuania	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Luxembourg	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Malawi	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Malta	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Marshall Islands	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Mexico	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Moldova	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Monaco	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Montenegro	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Morocco	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
NetherlandsTemplate:Efn	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Nicaragua	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Template:Country data North Macedonia	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Norway	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Pakistan	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Paraguay	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Philippines	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Poland	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Portugal	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Romania	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Russia	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
San Marino	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Serbia	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Seychelles	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Singapore	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Slovakia	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Slovenia	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Spain	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Sri Lanka	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Sweden	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Switzerland	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Tunisia	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Turkey	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Ukraine	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
United KingdomTemplate:Efn	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
United StatesTemplate:Efn	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Venezuela	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
Vietnam	—	Template:Dts	Template:Dts

External links

• Full text of the Convention
• List of central authorities designated by states parties