On 12 January 2024, the United Kingdom signed the Hague Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (the “Convention”). The Convention by providing:

“commonly accepted conditions for recognition and enforcement—and agreed grounds for refusal—the Convention provides legal certainty and predictability to parties involved in cross-border transactions, providing clarity as to whether and to what extent a judgment will be recognised and enforced in another jurisdiction.”

This is a significant development where one of the myriad of issues arising from Brexit is that the United Kingdom is no longer subject to the Brussels II Regulation (Regulation 2019/1111) which, in simple terms, requires the courts of any Member State recognise and allow the enforcement of judgments made in another Member State. 

While the Convention is yet to be ratified by the UK and will require an instrument of ratification, once ratified, this should provide an efficient method to enforce UK judgments in Ireland and should avoid protracted court applications for the recognition of UK judgments, which have been required since Brexit. 

Please do contact us if you have any queries on cross border disputes and recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.