Exchange of experiences in Tunis on select Conventions of the Hague Conference on Private International Law
- Details
- Published: May 11, 2018
On 10 and 11 May 2018, the IRZ together with the Tunisian Ministry of Justice and in cooperation with the Hague Conference for Private International Law organised a conference on four select Hague Conventions, which Tunisia has already joined or will soon join. The event was held as part of the Memorandum of Understanding of 6 February 2017 on legal cooperation for 2017 and 2018 between the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) and the Tunisian Ministry of Justice.
The following subjects were discussed at the conference:
- the Apostille Convention of 1961,
- the Service Convention of 1965,
- the Child Abduction Convention of 1980 and
- the Choice of Court Convention of 2005
The following experts from the IRZ and the Hague Conference took part in the event:
- Dr. Christophe Bernasconi, LL.M., Secretary General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law,
- Private Lecturer Dr. Florian Eichel, University of Passau, Department of Civil Law, Civil Procedure Law and International Private Law,
- Dr. Inka Hottgenroth, a judge at the Local Court of Cologne, Head of the Family Law Division and
- Dana Tillich, representing the German Federal Office of Justice, Department II 1 International Civil Law.
Under the leadership of Prosecutor General Imed Derouiche, Head of the Judicial Service at the Tunisian Ministry of Justice, the experts discussed with their Tunisian colleagues various aspects concerning the practical application of the Conventions in Tunisia’s justice and administrative systems. The first major challenge will be applying the Conventions to national Tunisian legislation and case law. Under the conditions of the contract, Tunisia also has to determine the relevant legal and official structures for each Convention. This has not yet been carried out in all cases, which means that Tunisia’s accession to the Convention concerned has not yet been recognised by all member states.
During the two-day meeting in Tunis, however, potential solutions for many of the outstanding issues were discussed and some of the terms in the individual Conventions, which the Tunisians obviously found misleading, were clarified, such as the “usual residence of the child” in the case of the child abduction Convention.
During the conference, Imed Derouiche and Dr. Bernasconi repeatedly emphasised the highly topical nature of the subject and the perfect timing of the meeting, which took place immediately after the Apostille Convention came into effect in Tunisia on 30 March 2018. The Hague Convention on Private International Law is also celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.
Together with the Hague Conference, the IRZ provided active support for the process of Tunisia’s accession from 2012 until its membership in November 2014, with advice and expert discussions in Tunis, and it has continued to offer regular advice since then.
As IRZ partner countries in the region, Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt are the only Arab member states of the Hague Conference, which are also represented in individual Hague Conventions. Iraq is not a member of the Hague Conference, although it is a contracting party to a Hague Convention. Other IRZ partner countries from the Arab world, such as Jordan, are in fact member states of the Hague Conference but have not yet joined any of the Hague Conventions. Algeria is neither a member of the Hague Conference nor a contractual partner of a Convention. This makes it all the more important for the IRZ to continue to include the Hague Conventions as part of its project work in the MENA region, so that it can make clear to its partner states the positive effects these Conventions can have on international legal and administrative cooperation.
