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Today, 12 January 2024, Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Justice, signed, on behalf of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (2019 Judgments Convention).

The 2019 Judgments Convention will enter into force for the United Kingdom only after it deposits an instrument of ratification (pursuant to Art. 28(2) of the Convention). Currently, 29 HCCH Members are either bound by the Convention or a Contracting Party for which the Convention has not entered into force yet (Uruguay). More information on this Convention is available on the Judgments Section of the HCCH website.

At the ceremony, which was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, depositary of the HCCH Conventions, Lord Bellamy KC was accompanied by Mr Keith Allan, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy, Mr Paul Young, Private Secretary to Lord Bellamy KC, Ms Yinni Hu, Head of Private International Law Strategy and Implementation at the Ministry of Justice, Ms Laura Grant, Policy Adviser at the British Embassy, and Mr James Allan, Press Officer / Senior Communications Officer at the British Embassy.

The depositary was represented by Mr Jules van Eijndhoven, Head of the Treaties Division, Mr Rieks Boekholt, Senior Legal Officer at the Treaties Division, Ms Jasmin Vassilev, Senior Policy Officer at the Europe Department, and Ms Naomi van de Vorst, Policy Officer at the Europe Department, while the Permanent Bureau of the HCCH was represented by Dr Christophe Bernasconi, Secretary General, and Ms Melissa Ford, Secretary and Head of the Transnational Litigation and Apostille Division.

The United Kingdom has been a Member of the HCCH since 1955 and is currently a Contracting Party to 13 HCCH Conventions.