Foreign judgments & cross-border disputes

• Since Brexit, most English and EU judgments are restricted to enforcement under the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements 2005 and the common law rules.
• The UK government has recently signed the Hague Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters. If ratified, it is hoped the convention will give businesses and individuals a simple route to enforcing foreign judgments in England.

It has long been the case that businesses have chosen English law and jurisdiction for the resolution of cross-border disputes. The landscape for enforcing foreign judgments in England has changed dramatically over the past five years, with another key change to the enforcement regime anticipated soon.

Looking back: pre-Brexit

Before Brexit, the UK’s membership of the EU meant the recognition and enforcement of EU judgments in