[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 26 (Monday, February 9, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 6595]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-3203]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice No. 2743]


Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Private International 
Law (ACPIL); Study Group on Judgments; Meeting Notice

    A meeting of the Study Group on Judgments of the Secretary of 
State's Advisory Committee on Private International Law will take place 
in Washington, D.C. on Friday, February 13, 1998 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 
p.m.
    The purpose of the meeting is to provide guidance to the Department 
of State and the members of the U.S. delegation to the sessions in 
March and November 1998 of the special commission of the Hague 
Conference on Private International Law charged with the preparation of 
a draft convention on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement 
of judgments in civil and commercial matters.
    The proposal for preparation of such a convention, made to the 
Hague Conference by the United States in May 1992, was accepted by the 
organization's Member States in October 1996. The Convention is to be 
prepared at four special commission sessions and final 
intergovernmental negotiations at the Hague Conference's 19th 
diplomatic session in October 2000. If the negotiations are successful 
and the United States ultimately ratifies the convention, it will 
provide rules of jurisdiction governing actions in U.S. state and 
federal courts over defendants from other party countries and over 
defendants from the United States in the courts of other party 
countries, and will facilitate the recognition and enforcement of U.S. 
judgments in those countries and the recognition and enforcement of 
judgments from those countries in U.S. courts.
    The Study Group meeting will focus on the interests of the United 
States with regard to issues likely to be on the agenda of the March 
and November sessions. In particular, the discussion will seek to 
provide guidance on the positions that the United States should adopt 
and the proposals that the U.S. delegation should present with a view 
to contributing to the Hague Conference's effort to achieve a 
successful global convention.
    Among the issues on the Conference's agenda are the following: The 
basic structure/approach of the convention; its substantive and 
geographical scope; prohibited and required grounds of jurisdiction; 
what constitutes an enforceable judgment; the procedures for 
recognition/enforcement and the role of the requested court; the 
verification process (jurisdiction of the court of origin, service and 
due process, fraud, excessive/exorbitant damages); the choice of court; 
lis pendens; the possibility of and conditions for the court of origin 
chosen by the plaintiff to decline jurisdiction. A number of other 
issues not yet discussed by the special commission or only initially 
addressed at the first special commission session in June 1997 and to 
be revisited at the March and/or November 1998 sessions, will be 
discussed, including: Denial of justice; group actions; protective 
jurisdiction (for consumers, insured, employees); jurisdiction with 
regard to corporations/branches; complex litigation; provisional and 
protective measures; the convention's applicability to intellectual 
property and trusts.
    Those planning to participate in the Study Group meeting and so 
notifying the office indicated below, will receive copies of the 
reports prepared by the Hague Conference's Permanent Bureau on the 
issues involved in the project, and the summary and full reports on the 
June 1997 first special commission session on this project. These 
reports are, or shortly will be, available on the Internet home page of 
the State Department's Office of Private International Law (L/PIL) at 
[http://www.his.com/pildb]. Those wishing to receive copies 
of these documents and to submit written comments or recommendations 
but unable to attend or obtain the documents from the home page, may 
request them by writing to Ms. Rosie Gonzales, Office of the Legal 
Adviser (L/PIL), Suite 203, South Building, 2430 E. Street, N.W., 
Washington, D.C. 20037-2800, or by faxing her at (202) 776-8482.
    The Study Group meeting is open to the public up to the capacity of 
the meeting room, and will be held in conference room 1105 in the main 
State Department building in Washington, D.C. As access to the building 
is controlled, persons wishing to attend should receive advance 
clearance to expedite their admission and are requested for this 
purpose to provide their name, affiliation, address, telephone number, 
date of birth and social security number by no later than Wednesday, 
February 11, by contacting Ms. Gonzales and providing this information 
at the above-indicated address or fax number, or by phoning her at 
(202) 776-8420. Participants should be sure to use only the C Street 
(``diplomatic'') entrance of the State Department, between 21st and 
23rd Streets, where someone from L/PIL will be present to assist them.
Peter H. Pfund,
Special Adviser for Private International Law, U.S. Department of 
State.
[FR Doc. 98-3203 Filed 2-4-98; 3:52 pm]
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