About Hague Service Convention:
- Hague Service Convention, formally known as the Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters, 1965, was adopted at the Hague Conference on Private International Law in 1965.
- Building on the 1905 and 1954 Hague Conventions on Civil Procedure, this multilateral treaty ensures that defendants sued in foreign jurisdictions receive timely and actual notice of legal proceedings while facilitating proof of service.
- 84 states, including India and the U.S., are parties to the Convention.
- Its procedures apply only when both the sending and receiving countries are signatories.
- Each member state must also designate a central authority to process requests and facilitate the service of documents from other signatory states.
- Signatory states can select the modes of transmission that apply within their jurisdiction.
- Under the Convention, the primary mode of service is through designated central authorities.
- However, alternative channels are also available, including postal service, diplomatic and consular channels, direct communication between judicial officers in both states, direct contact between an interested party and judicial authorities in the receiving state, and direct communication between government authorities.
- How is service effectuated on defendants in India?
- India acceded to the Convention on November 23, 2006, with certain reservations, expressly opposing all alternative service methods under Article 10.
- It prohibits the service of judicial documents through diplomatic or consular channels, except when the recipient is a national of the requesting country.
- Additionally, all service requests must be in English or accompanied by an English translation.
- As a result, valid service can only be executed through the Ministry of Law and Justice, India’s designated central authority.
- The Ministry is permitted to reject a service request, but must specify the reasons for such refusal.
- For instance, under Article 13, a request can be denied if the state believes its sovereignty or security would be compromised.
- However, a state cannot reject a service request solely because it claims exclusive jurisdiction over the subject matter under its domestic law.
- Similarly, under Article 29, a request cannot be refused simply because the state’s internal law does not recognise a right of action.
- If the central authority raises no objections, it proceeds with serving the defendant.
- The service is then treated as a summons issued by an Indian court under Section 29(c) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
- Once completed, the central authority issues an acknowledgement to the requesting party.
- The entire process typically takes six to eight months.
- Can a default verdict be rendered?
- A default judgment may be issued under the Convention if a foreign government refuses to cooperate in serving summons on a defendant residing within its jurisdiction.
- However, Article 15 prescribes specific conditions that must be met before such a judgment can be rendered:
- the document must have been transmitted through one of the methods outlined in the Convention;
- at least six months must have elapsed since the transmission, with the court determining this period to be reasonable in the given case; and
- no certificate of service has been received despite all efforts to obtain it through the competent authorities of the recipient state.
- Notably, India has expressly declared that its courts may issue a default judgment in cross-border disputes even if no certificate of service or delivery has been received, provided that all conditions under Article 15 are met.
