Treaty

Convention on the Accession of the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic to the Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters and to the Protocol on its Interpretation by the Court of Justice with the Adjustments made to them by the Convention on the Accession of the Kingdom of Denmark, of Ireland and of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Adjustments made to them by the Convention on the Accession of the Hellenic Republic

Parties with reservations, declarations and objections

Party Reservations / Declarations Objections
Denmark Yes No
Portugal Yes No
Spain Yes No
United Kingdom Yes No

Denmark

21-12-1995

Until further notice the Convention will not apply to the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

Portugal

15-04-1992

Communication from the Portuguese Republic in accordance with Article VI of the Protocol of 27 September 1968 annexed to the Brussels Convention In view of the amendments made to the legal order of the Portuguese Republic by: - Articles 65 and 65A of the code of civil procedure (Código de Processo Civil) regarding the international jurisdiction of the law courts, - Law No 3/99 of 13 January 1999 on the organisation, operation and jurisdiction of the law courts, particularly as regards the abolition of the "Tribunais Judiciais de Circulo", in accordance with Article VI of the Protocol of 27 September 1968 annexed to the Brussels Convention of the same date and for the purposes of Article 64(e) of the Convention, THE FOLLOWING AMENDMENTS SHOULD BE MADE TO THE CONVENTION: a) the eleventh indent of Article 3 should read as follows: "in Portugal: Articles 65 and 65A of the code of civil procedure (Código de Processo Civil) and Article 11 of the code of labour procedure (Código de Processo de Trabalho)," b) the twelfth indent of Article 32 should read as follows: "in Portugal, to the 'Tribunal de Comarca'".

Spain

22-11-1990

The Spanish Government is opposed to this attempt to extend the scope of the Convention unilaterally, without the consent of the other parties thereto, as this goes beyond the letter of the Convention itself and is contrary to International Law. 1. The current text of the Brussels Convention contains no clause authorising the United Kingdom to apply it to any European territory for the international relations of which it is responsible. Article 60 of the 1968 Brussels Convention stipulated that the Convention applied to the European territories of the Contracting States, including Greenland, and to the French overseas departments and territories, and to Mayotte, whilst entitling the Kingdom of the Netherlands to extend the scope of the Convention to include the Netherlands Antilles. The Convention drawn up in Luxembourg in 1978, on the accession of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom to the Brussels Convention, amended the abovementioned Article 60 in such a way that the latter did not apply to any European territory situated outside the United Kingdom and for the international relations of which it was responsible, unless the United Kingdom made a declaration to the contrary in respect of any such territory. The 1989 San Sebastian Convention, on the accession of Spain and Portugal to the Brussels Convention, deleted the abovementioned Article 60, thereby removing the possibility for the United Kingdom to extend the scope of the Convention by means of a declaration to those European territories for the international relations of which it was responsible. 2. The attempt to extend the scope of this international Convention to the territory of Gibraltar would entail new legal obligations on the other Contracting Parties, which according to International Law is impossible without the express consent of every single one of them. The Spanish Government if therefore opposed to this unilateral attempt to extend the scope of the Brussels Convention, and formally declares that it will not agree to it being applied to the territory of Gibraltar in any of the Articles referred to in the United Kingdom declaration.

United Kingdom

13-09-1991

Declare that the Convention shall apply to Gibraltar being a territory for whose international relations the Government of the United Kingdom are responsible. Declare that the following provisions of the Convention shall be implemented in Gibraltar in the manner specified bellow: Article 3 - the references with respect to the United Kingdom in the second paragraph to certain rules enabling the founding of jurisdiction shall apply mutatis mutandis to Gibraltar; Article 30 - the reference to the United Kingdom in the second paragraph shall apply to Gibraltar also; Article 32 - an application for enforcement of a judgement shall be submitted to the Supreme Court of Gibraltar, or in the case of a maintenance judgement to the Magistrates' Court on transmission by the Attorney General of Gibraltar; Article 37 - an appeal against a decision authorising enforcement shall be lodged with the Supreme Court of Gibraltar, or in the case of a maintenance judgement with the Magistrates' Court on transmission by the Attorney General of Gibraltar; the judgement given on the appeal may be contested only by a single further appeal on a point of law to the Court of Appeal of Gibraltar, or in the case of a maintenance judgement to the Supreme Court of Gibraltar by way of case stated; Article 38 - the reference to the United Kingdom in the second paragraph shall apply to Gibraltar also; Article 40 - an applicant may appeal against the refusal of an application for enforcement to the Supreme Court of Gibraltar, or in the case of a maintenance judgement to the Magistrates' Court; Article 41 - a judgement on an appeal provided for in Article 40 may be contested only by a single further appeal on a point of law to the Court of Appeal of Gibraltar, or in the case of a maintenance judgement to the Supreme Court of Gibraltar by way of case stated. By analogy with the provisions of Article 62 of the Convention the date on which the Convention shall come into effect for Gibraltar is 1 October, 1998 being the first day of the third month following the deposit of this Note.


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