OUTLINE
HAGUE SERVICE CONVENTION
November 2009 Page 1 of 2
Hague Convention of 15 November 1965 on the Service Abroad of Judicial
and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters
Purpose of the Service Convention
The Service Convention provides for the channels of transmission to be used when a judicial
or extrajudicial document is to be transmitted from one State party to the Convention to
another State party for service in the latter. 1
The Convention deals primarily with the
transmission of documents; it does not address or comprise substantive rules relating to the
actual service of process.2
The framework provided by the Convention is both efficient and effective – statistical data
shows that 66% of requests are executed within 2 months.
When does the Service Convention apply?
For the Convention to be applicable, the following requirements must be met: (i) a
document is to be transmitted from one State party to the Convention to another State
party for service in the latter (the law of the forum State determines whether or not a
document has to be transmitted abroad for service in the other State – the Convention is
non-mandatory), (ii) an address for the person to be served is known, (iii) the document to
be served is a judicial or extrajudicial document, and (iv) the document to be served relates
to a civil or commercial matter. If all these requirements are met, the transmission channels
provided for under the Convention must be applied (the Convention is exclusive).
What are the channels of transmission provided for by the Service Convention?
The Convention provides for one main channel of transmission and several alternative
channels of transmission (see the attached Explanatory Charts 1 and 2 – the paragraphnumbers
refer to the Practical Handbook (2006), see below).
Under the main channel of transmission provided for by the Convention, the authority or
judicial officer competent under the law of the requesting State (State where the document
to be served originates) transmits the document to be served to the Central Authority of the
requested State (State where the service is to occur).3
The request for service transmitted
to the Central Authority must comply with the Model Form4
annexed to the Convention and
1
A comprehensive and updated list of the Contracting States of the Convention is available on the “Service
Section” of the HCCH website (< www.hcch.net >).
2
There are, however, two channels of transmission provided for by the Convention where the transmission
process includes service of process upon the ultimate addressee: the direct diplomatic or consular channels and
the postal channel. For all the other channels of transmission provided for by the Convention an additional step,
not governed by the Convention, is required to serve process on the ultimate addressee.
3
The Convention specifies that the forwarding authority must be an authority or judicial officer of the requesting
State. It is that State’s law which determines which authorities or judicial officers are competent to forward the
request for service. Thus, in certain countries, attorneys, solicitors or private process servers are authorised to
send such a request. Under the Convention, private persons are not entitled to send directly a request for
service to the Central Authority of the requested State.
4
The Model Form is in three parts: a Request for service (which is sent to the Central Authority of the requested
State), a Certificate (which is reproduced on the reverse side of the Request and which confirms whether or not
the documents have been served), and a form entitled “Summary of the document to be served” (to be
delivered to the addressee). In addition, the Fourteenth Session of the HCCH recommended that the Summary
be preceded by a warning relating to the legal nature, purpose and effects of the document to be served. An
Active Model Form that can be completed electronically and printed is available on the “Service Section” of the
HCCH website (< www.hcch.net >).
November 2009 Page 2 of 2
aid in advance.
be accompanied by the documents to be served. The Central Authority of the requested
State will execute the request for service or cause it to be executed either (i) by informal
delivery to the addressee who accepts it voluntarily, or (ii) by a method provided for under
the law of the requested State, or (iii) by a particular method requested by the applicant,
unless it is incompatible with the law of the requested State. Under Article 5(3), the Central
Authority of the requested State may request a translation of the documents to be served if
they are to be served by a method prescribed by the internal law of the requested State for
the service of documents in domestic actions upon persons who are within its territory
(Art. 5(1)(a)), or if service by a particular method is requested by the applicant
(Art. 5(1)(b)). A State party shall not charge for its services rendered under the Convention
(Art. 12(1)). Thus, the services rendered by the Central Authority shall not give rise to any
payment or reimbursement of costs. Under Article 12(2), however, an applicant shall pay or
reimburse costs occasioned by the employment of a judicial officer or other competent
person or by the use of a particular method of service. A Central Authority may request such
costs to be p
The alternative channels of transmission are: the consular or diplomatic channels (direct and
indirect) (Arts. 8(1) and 9), postal channels (Art. 10(a)), direct communication between
judicial officers, officials or other competent persons of the State of origin and the State of
destination (Art. 10(b)), and direct communication between an interested party and judicial
officers, officials or other competent persons of the State of destination (Art. 10(c)). The
Convention entitles a State to object to the use of some of these alternative channels of
transmission. There is neither a hierarchy nor any order of importance among the channels
of transmission, and transmission through one of the alternative channels does not lead to
service of lesser quality.
Protection of the plaintiff’s and defendant’s interests
Regardless of the applicable channel of transmission, the Convention contains two key
provisions which protect the defendant prior to a judgment by default (Art. 15) and after a
judgment by default (Art. 16). Articles 15 and 16 require the judge to stay entry of
judgment (Art. 15) or allow the judge to relieve the defendant from the effects of the expiry
of the time for appeal (Art. 16), subject to certain requirements (for more details, see the
attached Explanatory Charts 3 and 4 – the paragraph-numbers refer to the Practical
Handbook (2006), see below).
Practical Handbook (2006)
In 2006, the Permanent Bureau published a fully revised and expanded edition of the
Practical Handbook on the Operation of the Hague Service Convention. This publication,
which comes with a fully searchable and easy-to-use e-book, offers detailed explanations on
the general operation of the Convention as well as authoritative commentaries on the major
issues raised by practice over the past forty years. To order the Handbook, see the “Service
Section” of the HCCH website (< www.hcch.net >). Furthermore, the “Service Section”
offers a wide range of practical information relating to service of process in the States party
to the Convention. The Handbook is available in English, French and Russian, and will shortly
be available also in Mandarin, Standard Cantonese, Portuguese and Spanish.
Monitoring of the Convention
The Service Convention’s practical operation was last reviewed by a Special Commission in
2009. The Special Commission confirmed ‘wide use and effectiveness, as well as the absence
of major practical difficulties’. With the aim of further enhancing cross-border judicial cooperation
among Contracting States, the Special Commission set out some guidelines for the
prompt execution of requests for service.
For more information, please contact the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference at:
secretariat@hcch.net.
Authority or judicial officer competent under the law of the requesting State
forwards request for service (Art. 3)
[para. 92]
CCHHAARRTT 11
OOPPEERRAATTIIOONN OOFF TTHHEE MMAAIINN CCHHAANNNNEELL OOFF TTRRAANNSSMMIISSSSIIOONN [[ppaarraass.. 8822 eett sseeqq..]]
which will execute the request for service or cause it to be executed either (Art. 5)
[para. 127]
by a method prescribed by
the internal law of the
requested State for the
service of documents
Art. 5(1)(a)
[para. 128]
by a particular method
requested by the applicant, unless
this method is incompatible with the
law of the requested State
Art. 5(1)(b)
[para. 131]
by simple delivery
to an addressee
who accepts it voluntarily
Art. 5(2)
[para. 134]
The Central Authority may require the document to be written in, or translated
into, the official language or one of the official languages of the requested State
Art. 5(3)
[para. 136]
Certificate completed by the Central Authority of the requested State
or any authority that it may have designated for that purpose
Arts. 6/7
[para. 163]
to Central Authority
of the requested State
[para. 82]
REQUESTINGSTATE
REQUESTEDSTATE
Requestfortranslation
SendingofCertificate
CHART 2
OPERATION OF THE ALTERNATIVE AND DEROGATORY CHANNELS OF TRANSMISSION [paras. 183 et seq.]
Direct Diplomatic or
Consular channel,
without any
compulsion
Art. 8(1)
[para. 189]
Indirect Diplomatic
channel, if exceptional
circumstances
require
Art. 9(2)
[para. 193]
Postal channel
Art. 10(a)
[para. 195]
Direct communication
between judicial officers,
officials or other
competent persons
Art. 10(b)
[para. 229]
Direct communication
between any interested
person and judicial
officers, officials or other
competent persons
Art. 10(c)
[para. 233]
Agreements
among two or
more States to
permit other
transmission
channels, in
particular the
direct
communication
between their
respective
authorities
Arts. 11, 24
and 25 [para. 236
and 289]
The internal
law of a
Contracting
State can
permit other
methods of
transmission
Art. 19
[para. 242]
Forwarding Authority
Ministry of
Foreign Affairs
Diplomatic
representative within
the State of destination
Ministry of
Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Justice
(facultative)
Addressee
Judicial officer, official or
other competent person
of the State of origin
Judicial officer, official or
other competent person
of the
State of destination
STATEOFORIGINSTATEOFDESTINATION
Derogatory
channels
Consular or Diplomatic
representative within
the State
of destination
Delivery without any compulsion,
voluntary acceptation of the document
Indirect
Consular
Channel
Art. 9(1)
[para. 192]
Consular
representative
within the State
of destination
State of destination may object
Art. 10 [para. 204]
Possible opposition, unless the document
is to be served upon a national of the
State in which the documents originate
Art. 8(2) [para. 190]
The protection
established by
Articles 15 and 16
shall not apply to
these two
transmission
channels
Ministry of Justice
(facultative)
Ministry of Justice
(facultative)
Ministry of
Foreign Affairs
Ministry of
Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Justice
(facultative)
Authority designated
by the State of
destination
CHART 3
ARTICLE 15: DEFENDANT’S PROTECTION PRIOR TO DECISION [paras. 275 et seq.]
Transmission abroad for the purpose of service,
under the provision of the Convention
If the defendant has not appeared,
judgment shall not be given until it is established that:
The judge may nonetheless give judgment
if all the following conditions are fulfilled:
The Contracting State has made a declaration to this effect
The document was transmitted by one of the methods provided for in the Convention
No certificate of any kind has been received, even though every reasonable effort has
been made to obtain it through the competent authorities of the requested State (or, in
the case of an alternative channel transmission, the State of destination)
A period of time considered adequate by the judge, but of not less than six months, has
elapsed since the date of the transmission of the document
Judgment by default
the service or delivery was effected in sufficient time to
enable the defendant to defend
The document was served by a method prescribed by the
internal law of the requested State (or, in the case of an
alternative channel of transmission, the State of destination)
and
The document was actually delivered to the defendant
or to his/her residence by another method provided for
by the Convention
and
CHART 4
ARTICLE 16: DEFENDANT’S PROTECTION AFTER A DECISION [paras. 286 et seq.]
The judge can relieve defendant from effects of the expiration of the time
for appeal if all the following conditions are fulfilled:
Writ of summons or equivalent document had to be transmitted abroad, under
the provisions of the Convention, for the purpose of service
Judgment by default has been rendered
application for relief is filled within a reasonable time after the defendant has
knowledge of the judgment or within the time fixed by the State in its declaration to
the Depository to this effect (this time shall in no case be less than one year following
the date of judgment)
defendant, without any fault on his/her part, did not have knowledge of the document
in sufficient time to defend, or knowledge of the judgment in sufficient time to appeal
the defendant has disclosed a prima facie defence to the action on the merits