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Hague Service Actions
Hague Service Convention’s practicality can help resolve complex international business issues.
Pursuing legal action abroad can be a cost of growing your business internationally when language gaps and customs differ. Yet, when you’re bringing suit against a party in another part of the world, an EU, U.S. or Australian court may not be the best answer.
Contact UsWhat Is the Hague Service Convention?
The Hague Service Convention is a shortened name for the Hague Convention of 1965 on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters. This Convention established streamlined procedures for serving legal documents to parties in different global jurisdictions when disputes arise.
The Convention doesn’t specify service of process rules. Instead, it creates more efficiency and expedience with standardized forms and workflows.
How the Hague Service Convention Process Works
Generally speaking, a business can complete a Hague service action in three separate ways, including:
- Through the Central Authority: Each country signing on to the Convention has designated a single place to receive documents known as the Central Authority. A competent official in the originating jurisdiction sends official paperwork to the named authority, who then initiates a request with the local courts to issue the customary service documents for their region. Once complete, the source confirms the execution with a certificate of service to the originator.
- Through the mail: The Convention permits international litigants to do service via mail if a country’s laws don’t expressly prohibit it. This method is not an option in jurisdictions like China, and courts in the U.S. have upheld China’s right to refuse mail as an alternative.
- Through other alternative methods: The Convention also allows litigants to choose additional service methods approved by the receiving country through its laws or previous diplomatic agreements.
Experience on a Global Scale
Harris Bricken boasts a team of experienced international attorneys who help modern companies enforce and protect their legal rights and business assets. We offer legal guidance from offices spanning the globe with the localized knowledge you need.
Our firm maintains fluency in multiple languages, including Hindi, Japanese, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Mandarin, Gujarati, Korean, Cantonese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Turkish and Thai.
Our Hague Convention Services
- While the Hague Convention doesn’t detail the specific rules for the service of process, following defined steps can improve your outcomes. Your skilled Harris Bricken attorney knows what it takes to be successful and offers comprehensive services like:
- Determining the appropriate service method according to country protocols.
- Ensuring service satisfies the originating jurisdiction’s due process laws.
- Crafting service papers for the proper scope, for example, a claim for damages versus a tax dispute.
- Drafting instruments that will satisfy country-specific scrutiny to effect service.
- Completing required Hague Convention forms.
- Translating documents into country-specific language.
- Obtaining needed court seals before requesting Hague service actions.
- Collaborating with a licensed, experienced attorney in the other country.
AWARD-WINNING
CHINA LAW BLOG
Practical Insights of Chinese Law and How it Impacts Business
Dan Harris is a leading authority on China’s legal system and business environment. In addition to making frequent media appearances to speak on Chinese legal issues, they co-author the China Law Blog, which consistently ranks as one of the top English-language legal blogs in the world.
The ABA (American Bar Association) Journal named the China Law Blog as one of the 20 best legal blogs of all time, and for five years in a row the Journal’s readers voted it the best in its category. The China Law Blog offers readers a wealth of information about the types of clients we serve and the legal challenges we help them solve every day.
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Corey T., CEO Thinc Cubed, LLC
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Dan Pak Hospital Supply Chain Executive
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Matt Hurt, COO Cannabis Nation
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Joseph Axelrod, General Counsel Irwin Naturals
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Tony Theiss, CEO and Co-Founder Redbarn Cannabis
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Kevin English, CEO We Are Camp
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