UK membership will strengthen cross-border enforcement of English court judgments and reinforce London’s position as a key global centre for dispute resolution.

By Oliver Middleton, Samuel Pape, and Sean Newhouse

On 1 July 2025, the Hague Judgments Convention 2019 (Hague 2019) enters into force across the UK for proceedings commencing on or after that date.¹ This is a major development in the cross-border enforcement landscape, supporting the recognition and enforcement of English court judgments across a growing set of jurisdictions.

Hague 2019 will be of particular significance for disputes litigated on the basis of asymmetric jurisdiction clauses, which are commonly used in cross-border finance and other transactional agreements. Such clauses are typically considered ineligible for enforcement under the Hague 2005 Convention on Choice of Court Agreements (Hague 2005), to which the UK is also a party. As a result, before the entry into force of Hague 2019 in the UK, transaction parties faced risks and costs if they wished to benefit from the flexibility of an asymmetric jurisdiction clause that would allow them to bring suit either in the English courts or elsewhere. English court judgments in proceedings arising out of such clauses were more difficult to enforce in certain jurisdictions and, equally, the enforcement in the UK of foreign judgments in such proceedings was more burdensome.

The entry into force in the UK of Hague 2019 is also notable because of the UK’s post-Brexit loss of access to the Lugano Convention, which deals with recognition and enforcement of judgments (as well as jurisdiction) for EU Member States plus Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland. To date, the UK has not been able to rejoin the Lugano Convention, rendering Hague 2019 an important new tool for helping litigants who have obtained an English judgment to enforce that judgment across the EU.

Contracting Parties

At present, Hague 2019 is in force in all EU countries (excepting Denmark), Ukraine, and Uruguay, but this group is expected to expand in 2026 to include Albania, Andorra, and Montenegro, with additional countries likely joining over time. The United States and Russia are prominent examples of countries that have become signatories to the convention but have not yet ratified it.

Overview of Hague 2019

Hague 2019 is a regime for the recognition and enforcement of civil and commercial judgments between states party to the convention. It excludes judgments given in insolvency, defamation, privacy, intellectual property, family law, and most antitrust cases, as well as in arbitration and arbitration-related proceedings.

The range of judgment types subject to Hague 2019 is broad, including all merits decisions both monetary and non-monetary and determinations on costs relating to such merits decisions. However, judgments relating to interim measures are excluded.

Recognition and enforcement under Hague 2019 are subject to certain limitations. To be eligible for recognition and enforcement, a judgment must satisfy one of the alternative bases for jurisdiction set out in Article 5. Contracting states may also refuse to recognise or enforce a judgment where certain conditions apply, including fraud, failure to notify the defendant of the proceedings, incompatibility with public policy, and inconsistency with another judgment in the same jurisdiction in a dispute between the same parties, among others. For more details, see this blog post.

Impact for Litigation Stemming From Asymmetric Jurisdiction Clauses

Asymmetric jurisdiction clauses provide that one party (such as the borrower in a financing transaction) must bring any litigation in a specified jurisdiction while allowing the other party (e.g., a financing party) the flexibility to choose where to bring an action. As noted above, Hague 2005, which governs the recognition and enforcement of judgments pursuant to exclusive jurisdiction agreements, has generally been unavailable as a tool for parties who elect to use asymmetric clauses because of the flexibility they offer.

Hague 2019, by contrast, does not require that jurisdiction clauses apply reciprocally to both parties in order for resulting judgments to be recognised and enforced.

Looking Ahead

The UK’s accession to Hague 2019 is a significant next step that will reinforce London’s status as a global hub for dispute resolution. In particular, Hague 2019 plugs a notable gap by facilitating cross-border enforcement of English judgments arising out of asymmetric jurisdiction clauses, as well as such judgments in other contracting jurisdictions. The UK is a significant addition to the already substantial list of parties to Hague 2019 — a list that is likely to grow over time, expanding the reach and effectiveness of the convention.

1. Hague 2019’s full title is the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters. ↩︎