OAS

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Commercial Arbitration and Other Alternative Dispute Resolution Methods

The Montevideo Convention


Inter-American Convention on Extraterritorial Validity of Foreign Judgments and Arbitral Awards

The Governments of the Member States of the Organization of American States,

CONSIDERING that the administration of justice in the American States requires their mutual cooperation for the purpose of ensuring the extraterritorial validity of judgments and arbitral awards rendered in their respective territorial jurisdictions as follows:

Article 1

This Convention shall apply to judgments and arbitral awards rendered in civil, commercial or labor proceedings in one of the States Parties, unless at the time of ratification it makes an express reservation to limit the Convention to compensatory judgments (sentencias de condena) involving property. In addition, any one of them may declare, when ratifying the Convention, that is also applies to rulings that end proceedings, to the decisions of authorities that exercise some jurisdictional function and to judgments in penal proceedings ordering compensation for damages resulting from an offense.

The rules of this Convention shall apply to arbitral awards in all matters not covered by the Inter-American Convention on International Commercial Arbitration, signed in Panama on January 30, 1975.

Article 2

The foreign judgments, awards and decisions referred to in Article 1 shall have extraterritorial validity in the States Parties if they meet the following conditions:

    a. They fulfill all the formal requirements necessary for them to be deemed authentic in the State of origin;

    b. The judgment, award or decision and the documents attached thereto that are required under this Convention are duly translated into the official language of the State where they are to take effect;

    c. They are presented duly legalized in accordance with the law of the State in which they are to take effect;

    d. The judge or tribunal rendering the judgment is competent in the international sphere to try the matter and to pass judgment on it in accordance with the law of the State in which the judgment, award or decision is to take effect;

    e. The plaintiff has been summoned or subpoenaed in due legal form substantially equivalent to that accepted by the law of the State where the judgment, award or decision is to take effect;

    f. The parties had an opportunity to present their defense;

    g. They are final or, where appropriate have the force of res judicata in the State in which they were rendered;

    h. They are not manifestly contrary to the principles and laws of the public policy (ordre public) of the State in which recognition of execution is sought.

Article 3

The documents of proof required to request execution of judgments, awards and decisions are as follows:

    a. A certified copy of the judgment, award or decision;

    b. A certified copy of the documents proving that the provisions of items (e) and (f) of the foregoing article have been compiled with; and

    c. A certified copy of the document stating that the judgment, award or decision is final or has the force of res judicata.

Article 4

If a foreign judgment, award or decision cannot be executed in its entirety, the judge or tribunal may agree to its partial execution at the request of an interested party.

Article 5

The declaration in forma pauperis recognized in the State of origin of the judgment shall be recognized in the State of destination.

Article 6

The procedures for ensuring the validity of foreign judgments, awards and decisions, including the jurisdiction of the respective judges and tribunals, shall be governed by the law of the State in which execution is sought.

Article 7

This Convention shall be open for signature by the Member States of the Organization of American States.

Article 8

This Convention is subject to ratification. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States.

Article 9

This Convention shall remain open for accession by any other State. The instrument of accession shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States.

Article 10

Each State may, at the time of signature, ratification or accession, make reservations to this Convention, provided that each reservation concerns one or more specific provisions and is not incompatible with the object and purpose of the Convention.

Article 11

This Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day following the date of deposit of the second instrument of ratification.

For each State ratifying or acceding to the Convention after the deposit of the second instrument of ratification, the Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after deposit by such State of its instrument of ratification or accession.

Article 12

If a State Party has two or more territorial units in which different systems of law apply in relation to the matters dealt with in this Convention, it may, at the time of signature, ratification or accession, declare that this Convention shall extend to all its territorial units or only to one or more of them.

Such declaration may be modified by subsequent declarations, which shall expressly indicate the territorial unit or units to which this Convention applies. Such subsequent declarations shall be transmitted to the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States and shall become effective thirty days after the date of their receipt.

Article 13

This Convention shall remain in force indefinitely, but any of the States Parties may denounce it. The instrument of denunciation shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States. After one year from the date of deposit of the instrument of denunciation, the Convention shall no longer be in effect for the denouncing State, but shall remain in effect for the other States Parties.

Article 14

The original instrument of this Convention, the English, French, Portuguese and Spanish texts of which are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States, which will forward an authenticated copy of its text to the Secretariat of the United Nations for registration and publication in accordance with Article 102 of its Charter. The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States shall notify the Member States of that Organization and the States that have acceded to the Convention of the signatures, deposits of instruments of ratification, accession and denunciation as well as of reservations, if any. It shall also transmit the declarations referred to in Article 12 of this Convention.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, being duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed this Convention.

DONE AT MONTEVIDEO, Republic of Uruguay, this eighth day of May, one thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine.


Signatories, dates of ratification and of deposit of ratification instrument, declarations/reservations by Brazil, Mexico and Uruguay


B-41: INTERAMERICAN CONVENTION ON TERRITORIAL EFFECTIVENESS OF FOREIGN ARBITRATION AWARDS

ADOPTED IN: MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY

DATE: 08/05/79

CONF/ASSEEMBLY/MEETING: SECOND SPECIALIZED INTERAMERICAN CONFERENCE ON PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW

IN FORCE: 14/06/80 PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 23 OF THE CONVENTION

DEPOSITORY: SECRETARIAT GENERAL OF THE OAS (ORIGINAL INSTRUMENT AND RATIFICATIONS)

TEXT: SERIES ON TREATIES, OAS, NO. 51

UN REGISTRATION: 20/03/89 No. 24392 Vol.

REMARKS: The convention is open for the signature of the Members of the Organization of American States and the accession of any other State.

 

GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE TREATY: B-41

SIGNATORY COUNTRIES DATE REF RA/AC/AD REF DEPOSIT  INST. REPORTS REF
Argentina 01/12/83   07/11/83   01/12/83 RA

  /  /

Bolivia 02/08/83   15/05/98   08/10/98  

  /  /

Brazil 08/05/79 R 1 31/08/95   27/11/95 RA   /  /
Chile 08/05/79     /  /     /  /     /  /
Colombia 08/05/79   24/06/81   10/09/81 RA   /  /
Costa Rica 08/05/79     /  /     /  /     /  /
Ecuador 08/05/79   05/05/82   06/01/82 RA   /  /
El Salvador 11/08/80     /  /     /  /     /  /
Guatemala 08/05/79     /  /     /  /     /  /
Haiti 08/05/79     /  /     /  /     /  /
Honduras 08/05/79     /  /     /  /     /  /
Mexico 02/12/86   11/02/87 DR a 12/06/87 RA   /  /
Panama 08/05/79     /  /     /  /     /  /
Paraguay 08/05/79   05/07/85   16/08/85 RA   /  /
Peru 08/05/79   09/04/80   15/05/80 RA   /  /
Dominican Republic 08/05/79     /  /     /  /     /  /
Uruguay 08/05/79 D 2 12/02/80 D b 15/05/83 RA   /  /
Venezuela 08/05/79   30/01/85   28/02/85 RA   /  /

 
REF = REFERENCE

D = STATEMENT
R = RESERVATIONS

REPORTS = INFORMATION REQUIRED BY THE TREATY

INST = TYPE OF INSTRUMENT

RA = RATIFICATION
AC = ACCEPTANCE
AD = ACCESSION

 

B-41. INTERAMERICAN CONVENTION ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF EXTRATERRITORIAL JUDGMENTS AND ARBITRATION AWARDS



1. Brazil:

(Reservation made upon signing the Convention)

Reservation as regards letter d) , Article 2.

2. Uruguay:

Scope granted to Public Order:

The Republic of Uruguay states that it expressly ratifies the line of thought expressed by Panama –CIDIP-I—reaffirming its true Pan-American spirit and its clear and positive decision of contributing with its ideas and vote, to the effective development of the legal community.

This line of thought and conduct has been demonstrated without doubt, with the ratification without reserves by Uruguay, of all the Panama Conventions approved by Law N 14.534 of 1976.

In accordance with the above, the Republic of Uruguay votes affirmatively for the public order formula, without prejudice of expressly and clearly pointing out, according to the position expressed in Panama, that according with its interpretation of the above mentioned exception, this refers to international public order, as a singular legal institution, not necessarily identified with the internal public order of each State.

Therefore, in the opinion of the Republic of Uruguay, the formula approved involves an exceptional authorization to the different Party States, so that in a non-discretionary and justified manner, declare non-applicable the precepts of the foreign law, when these offend in a specific, serious and manifest manner, the essential regulations and principles of international public order, on which each State bases its legal individuality.

B-41/2

a. Mexico:

(Reservation and interpretive statements made upon ratification of the Convention)

Reservation:

Article 1

As regards Article 1 of the Convention, Mexico expressly states its reservation to limit its application to the judgments passed in one of the Party States, imposing sentences involving assets.

Interpretive Declarations:

Article 2

As regards Article 2 , paragraph d) of the Convention, Mexico declares that said condition shall be considered upheld when the authority of the judge or tribunal that has been established to coincide with the rules acknowledged by the Interamerican Convention, on the Basis of Jurisdiction in the International Sphere, for the Extraterritorial EFFECTIVENESS of the Foreign Judgments and Awards, excluding all subjects referring to Article 6 of the same instrument, subscribed in La Paz, Bolivia, on May 24, 1984.

Article 3

Likewise, as regards to Article 3, the United States of Mexico interpret that for the harmonization and coercive execution of the foreign judgments and awards, it is necessary to make them known by means of petitions or rogatory letters, where the necessary citations appear, so that the Parties can appear before the petitioner.

Article 6

Mexico interprets Article 6 of the Convention in the sense that the petitioned judge has jurisdiction in all related procedures, to insure the execution of the sentences, including, among others, those concerning attachments, receiverships, mediation/arbitration and public sales.

    b. Uruguay:

    (Declaration made upon ratification of the Convention)