Assessment of the Success of the Convention on Choice of Court Agreement in Transnational Commercial Dispute Resolution

Abstract

<p>The Convention on Choice of Court Agreement 2005 (hereafter COCA), which was developed by the Hague Convention on Private International Law (hereafter HCCH) was a transnational litigation instrument adopted in 2005 and brought into force in 2015. By providing the needed methods and tools to disputants in a commercial relationship, the COCA has the objective to create an internationally uniform legal framework of dispute resolution that promotes cross-border trade and encourages judicial cooperation via the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments given based on a choice of court agreement. This article assesses the until now success of the COCA, on the one hand, in achieving its specific commercial objectives and on the other hand, the general success of the COCA in transnational commercial dispute resolution. Accordingly, this article argues that, on the one hand, the COCA is well equipped with the needed tools to achieve its specific commercial objectives, and its success in this regard depends on the parties who should choose to apply the tools provided in the COCA to resolve their commercial disputes by signing a choice of court agreement to that effect. On the other hand, regarding the general success of the COCA as an instrument of transnational commercial dispute resolution, however, it is argued that, although the COCA remained generally unsuccessful until 2015 due to its late enforcement and highly deficient ratification, after 2015 however, because more states are ratifying the COCA, it is graduating into a success story and the future is anticipated to be brighter.</p>