Hague 2019 encourages UK businesses to trade across borders

From 1 July 2025, there will be increased certainty for businesses in trading across borders as the scheme for recognition and enforcement of Court judgments in civil and commercial matters is extended for the UK as the ‘2019 Hague Convention’ enters force. The resulting increase in cooperation should promote international trade and investment.

How did we get here? The international picture

The second half of the twentieth century was marked by the establishment of international institutions and arrangements, intended to foster cooperation and understanding between States and peoples.

This movement to globalisation was born from the backdrop of World War Two, the development of technologies to improve both transport and communication, and economic and political philosophies that pump-primed trading across borders.

Within a short breath of the turn of the twentieth century however, there has been a hand brake turn against the movement to globalisation, with developing political and economic nationalism taking a front seat and the trans-national institutions of the last century facing attacks from diverse quarters. The UK’s exit from the European Union and its legal frameworks and the US President’s recent imposition of tariffs (now held by a Federal court to be unlawful) are just two examples of this.

It is, though, legitimate to ask whether the importance of cross-border trade to the economic health and wellbeing of nations will, as time develops, provide an arresting restraint on such isolationism. Will pragmatism prevail?

Evidence for this may be found in UK government (this one and its predecessor) recognition of the continuing value of certainty of ability to enforce rights and obligations arising from commercial transactions in the jurisdictions of trading partners, and, to that end to restore cross-border institutional cooperation with the country’s most important markets.

Relevant here is that each State has its own legal system and, as a matter of private international law, with no treaty on the matter, it can’t be assumed that one jurisdiction will recognise an adjudication made by another’s courts.

The significance of Hague 2019

I examined the strategic aims of Hague 2019 and how it evolved from its predecessor, Hague 2005, in an article published upon the ratification of the convention at the beginning of last year.

While the UK’s ratification was already a pivotal step, this latest joint statement marks the first EU-level political recognition in UK-EU relations of the Convention’s forthcoming application. This development forms part of a wider renewal in legal and judicial collaboration, with the Common Understanding setting out plans to strengthen ties in areas including criminal justice, security, and civil law.

Notably, the Hague 2019 Convention will provide a unified framework for recognising and enforcing judgments across many jurisdictions, a crucial gap left by the UK’s exit from the Brussels Regulation and the Lugano Convention post-Brexit. The EU’s recognition of its application enhances legal certainty for businesses and litigants on both sides of the Channel.

However, there are several exclusions, including cases that involve intellectual property, insolvency claims, privacy rights, defamation and certain competition matters. Arbitration awards are also excluded, as well as provisional measures, including freezing orders and interim payment orders, which do not qualify as judgments under the 2019 Convention.

As indicated, in context of the Common Understanding, the Convention coming into force also signals a renewed willingness to rebuild structured legal frameworks between the UK and the EU. Indeed, this may open the door for further alignment or cooperation on complementary instruments in future.

As July 2025 approaches, legal practitioners should prepare for a new era of judgment enforcement, an era that is simpler, more predictable, and politically reinforced by the UK’s and EU’s shared commitment to stable cross-border legal mechanisms.