The EU and Ukraine have agreed to recognize and enforce each other's court decisions in civil or commercial matters. The relevant convention will enter into force in September 2023, writes Deutsche Welle.
On Monday, April 24, the Council of the EU announced that the members of the European Union had reached an agreement to establish contractual relations with Ukraine within the framework of the Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments.
The Hague Convention is an international treaty that obliges the participants to recognize and enforce decisions made in civil or commercial cases in other states.
The EU expressed hope that such a step with regard to Ukraine would become "an important tool for promoting international trade." "With this decision to recognize and ensure the execution of each other's court decisions, the ties between the EU and Ukraine will only become stronger," said the Minister of Justice of Sweden, which chairs the EU Council, Gunnar Stremmer.
"The member states of the European Union believe that there are no fundamental obstacles, for example, related to the independence and efficiency of the judicial system, the fight against corruption, or the observance of fundamental rights, which could prevent the EU from entering into contractual relations with Ukraine," the communiqué reads. on the website of the Council of the EU.
The Convention on Judicial Decisions was developed at the Hague Conference on Private International Law and signed on July 2, 2019. Ukraine ratified the convention in 2022, it will enter into force on September 1, 2023.
