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Practical Information:

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

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Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

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Bilateral 
- Tratado de Cooperación y Asistencia Jurisdiccional en Materia Civil, Comercial, Laboral y Administrativa entre la República Argentina y la Federación de Rusia. 20/11/2000. Ley 25.595 (22/05/2002)
- Convención de asistencia judicial y de reconocimiento y ejecución de sentencias en materia civil entre la República Argentina y la República Italiana. Roma, Italia, 09 de Diciembre de 1987. Ley n° 23.720 (01/07/1990) 
- Acuerdo sobre Cooperación Judicial en materia Civil, Comercial, Laboral y Administrativa entre la República Argentina y la República Federativa del Brasil, Brasilia, 20/08/1991. Ley N° 24.108(01/07/1992) 

Multilateral
- Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory (Panama City, 13 January 1975).
- Additional Protocol to the Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory (Montevideo, 8 May 1979)
http://www.oas.org/
- Protocolo de Cooperación y Asistencia Jurisdiccional en Materia Civil, Comercial, Laboral y Administrativa (MERCOSUR/CMC/DEC N° 5/92)
- Acuerdo Complementario al Protocolo de Cooperación y Asistencia Jurisdiccional en Materia Civil, Laboral y Administrativa (MERCOSUR/CMC/DEC N° 5/97) (Asuncion, 14 June 1997)
http://200.40.51.219/msweb/principal/contenido.asp

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Click here to read all the declarations made by Australia under the Service Convention. 

Personal service of a document on a person is effected by leaving a copy of the document with the person, or, if the person does not accept the copy, by putting the copy down in the person's presence and informing the person of the fact that the document has been so placed. If the person is not at home, personal service is effected by leaving the documents addressed to the person, with a person who is apparently of or above the age of 16 years residing at that address.

In the case of a person having an address for service that is a solicitor's office address, service is attempted at the solicitor's office by leaving the documents with a person employed at that address.

Service of a document on a Corporation is effected by personally serving the document on the Corporation in any manner in which service of such a document may, by law, be served on the Corporation.

Service of a document on a prisoner or an inmate is effected by leaving the document with the General Manager of a Correctional Centre where the prisoner or an inmate is held.

Note: Request for service to a Post Office Box number, DX number or service transmission of documents electronically is not accepted in New South Wales.

Voluntary or informal delivery of documents (Article 5(2)) is carried out in the same manner as above.

Victoria:
As above for New South Wales. See Order 80.13 of the Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2015 (Vic) for service requirements including prescribed forms. A Sheriff's Officer, detailing whether service has been successful or not, completes an affidavit of service. This indicates how the addressee was identified or reasons that service could not be affected. All relevant documents are sent back to the Foreign Service Officer for the Certificate of Service to be completed. Documents are then returned to the Applicant.

If the requesting authority has stipulated they require voluntary service to be affected, the process is carried out in the same manner as above. However, the addressee may refuse to accept the documents when being served by a Sheriff's Officer under this method. This is reflected in the affidavit, returned to the Court and deemed unsuccessful. Documents are then returned to the Applicant.

Queensland:
If the request is compliant with the Convention, service is effected by either a bailiff of the court or an enforcement officer.

Personal service on an individual is effected by locating the person to be served and identifying them, generally by asking their identity, and then giving them the documents to be served.

If service of the documents is required on a corporation, then service will ordinarily be attended to by delivering the documents and leaving them with a person at the registered address of the corporation.

If service of the documents is required on a business that is not a registered corporation, then service is effected by delivering the documents and leaving with them with a person at the business address who appears to be in control or management of the business.

Please note that service cannot be effected by sending documents to or leaving them at a Post Office Box address.

Voluntary service is carried out by either a bailiff of the court or an enforcement officer.

The bailiff or enforcement officer will locate the person to be served, identify them (by asking them to confirm their name) and will then ask if they will voluntarily accept service of the documents. If so, the documents or a copy of them will be left with that person.

Please note that Voluntary Service cannot be effected on a Post Office Box address.

Western Australia:
Official service is carried out pursuant to the Supreme Court Rules 1971 (WA) under Order 11A.

If these requirements are met, the request is processed through the Supreme Court and passed to the Sheriff to organise personal service.

Upon receipt the Sheriff will organise for one of his Officers to effect service and when service is effected an Affidavit will be completed by the Sheriff's office. This Affidavit is forwarded to the Supreme Court and upon receipt, the Principal Registrar produces the Certificate of Service of Foreign Process which is signed and sealed.

Attached to that Certificate is the Sheriff's Affidavit and annexures being the documents that were in fact served.

These documents are then forwarded to the State Solicitor's Office.

Upon receipt the State Solicitor's Office transmits that Certificate, Affidavit and annexures to the requesting authorities.

A notation and request is also made with regards to payment of service fees which are paid in advance by the State Solicitor's Office.

The process for voluntary service is basically the same as above apart from the fact that in some instances, no translation of the documentation is provided apart from the original request and if that is the case, voluntary service will be carried out on the condition that the person being served is happy to accept the documentation in that form. An Affidavit of Service is prepared by the Sheriff's Officer annexing the document that was served.

The Principal Registrar of the Supreme Court of Western Australia will produce a Certificate for documents that are not translated but he cannot certify what has been delivered other than a document in a foreign language.

South Australia:
The documents are transferred to the Sheriff who arranges for the documents to be forwarded to the Process Server. The Process Server will attend at the address shown and attempt to serve the documents. If successful an affidavit of service would be completed.

If the person is no longer at the stated address, inquiries would be made with neighbours to try to ascertain the current address.

The Process Server would follow specific instructions relating to the service of the documents as provided by the applicant. For example, requiring the signature of the recipient. If the applicant has requested a particular method of service and that method is compatible with the law in force in this jurisdiction that method would be used.

Voluntary service
There are no recent precedents in South Australia.

Tasmania:
If the applicant has requested a particular method of service and that method is compatible with the law in force in Tasmania, service will be by that method (Supreme Court Rules 2000 (Tas), r.970O (3)(b)).

If the applicant has not requested a particular method of service and the person accepts the document voluntarily by delivery of the document to the person to be served (Supreme Court Rules 2000 (Tas), r.970O (3)(c)).

Unless a specific method of service is directed, a notice or document may be served on a natural person by giving it to the person or by leaving it at or posting it to that person's residential or business address. A document may be served on any other person by leaving it at or posting it to the person's principal or registered office or principal place of business. (Acts Interpretation Act 1931 (Tas), s.29AB).

Where service by post is permitted it shall be deemed to be effected by properly addressing, prepaying and posting the documents as a letter. Further, unless the contrary is proved service shall be deemed to be effected at the time the letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post. A document required to be sent through registered post must be duly registered or, unless contrary intention appears, be sent through a certified mail service as provided for by postal regulations in force at the time. (Acts Interpretation Act 1931 (Tas), s.30)

Australian Capital Territory:
The request for service must be sent to the ACT Supreme Court by the Attorney General of the Commonwealth or forwarding authority. The Court arranges for service of: the document to be served, the summary of the document, and a copy of the request for service (Court Procedure Rules 2006 (ACT), rule 6564). This is ordinarily served by a Sheriff's Officer of the Supreme Court.

Voluntary service is carried out in the same way as official service as described above i.e. the request must be sent to the Supreme Court which arranges for service See Court Procedure Rules 2006 (ACT), rule 6564.

Northern Territory:

Service is conducted pursuant to the Supreme Court Rules 1987 (NT) under Order 7A.

On receipt of a request for service, the Court arranges for the service of the relevant documents in accordance with the request.

Service of the relevant documents may be effected by any of the following methods of service:

(a) by a method of service prescribed by the law in force in the Northern Territory:
    (i) for the service of a document of a kind corresponding to the document to be served; or

    (ii) if there is no such corresponding kind of document – for the service of initiating process in proceedings in the Court;

(b) if the applicant has requested a particular method of service and that method of service is compatible with the law in force in the Northern Territory – by that method;
(c) if the applicant has not requested a particular method of service and the person requested to be served accepts the document voluntarily – by delivery of the document to the person requested to be served.
Generally, most documents are served on a person by means of personal service by the bailiff of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.

When service is effected or not, the person by whom service has been effected or not, must file with the Court an affidavit specifying the matters set out in Rule 7A.16 of the Supreme Court Rules 1987 (NT). Thereafter the Registrar of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory will complete a certificate of service or non-service, sealed with the seal of the Court, and forward this, together with a statement as to the costs incurred in relation to the service or attempted service of the document, directly to the forwarding authority from which the request was received.

New South Wales:
11A.13 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) requires the documents to be served and its translation in English.

Please note: the translation must bear a certificate (in English), signed by the translator stating:

• that the translation is an accurate translation of the document
• the translator's full name and address, and
• his or her qualifications for making the translations

Victoria:
Where the documents to be served (including request forms) are not in the English language, they must bear a certificate (in English) signed by the translator stating:

• that the translation is an accurate translation of the documents;
• the translator's full name and address and his or her qualifications for making the translation.

See Order 80.13(2)(d) and (3) of the Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2005 (VIC).

Queensland:
The foreign civil process to be served must be translated into English and provided in duplicate pursuant to Rule 130M of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld). The documents forwarded for service must be duly certified by the translator to be a true and correct translation of the documents to be served.

Western Australia:
Documents to be served must be translated into English. Any translation that is provided must bear a Certificate in English (signed by the translator) stating that the translation is an accurate translation of the document and the translator's full name and address and his/her qualifications for making the translation. The Certificate is required pursuant to Rule 11A 13(3) of the Supreme Court Rules 1971 (WA).

South Australia:
Rule 29(2)(d) in Schedule 1, Part 3 of the Uniform Civil Rules 2020 (SA) deals with translation requirements.
Subrule (2) provides that where a document to be submitted is not in English it must be accompanied by an English translation of the document.
Any translation required under subrule (2)(d)) must bear a certificate (in English) signed by the translator stating:

• that the translation is an accurate translation of the document, and
• the translator's full name and address and his or her qualifications for making the translation.

Tasmania:
Any documents in a language other than English must be accompanied by an English translation (Supreme Court Rules 2000 (Tas), r.970M(2)(d)). Any translated documents must bear a certificate (in English) signed by the translator stating the translation is an accurate translation of the document as well as the translator's full name and address and his or her qualifications for making the translation (Supreme Court Rules 2000 (Tas),r.970M(3)).

Australian Capital Territory:
Documents for service, if in a language other than English, must be accompanied by an English translation of those documents. The translation must bear a certificate in English, signed by the translator, stating that the translation is an accurate translation of the document and the translator's full name, address and qualifications for making the translation (Court Procedure Rules 2006 (ACT), rule 6562).

Northern Territory:
Rule 7A.13 of the Supreme Court Rules 1987 provides if documents for service are not in the English language, the documents must be accompanied by an English translation. The translation must bear a certificate in English, signed by the translator, stating that the translation is an accurate translation of the document and the translator's full name, address and qualifications for making the translation.

The costs of service are set out in the Civil Procedure Regulations 2017 (NSW). The Sheriff's fees are in Schedule 2 Sheriff's Fees. Item 1 sets out the current fees for service.

Please note that an increase in service fees normally occurs on 1 July of each year.

Victoria:
A fee of AUD 32.00 applies for successful service and unsuccessful service. This is payable to the Sheriff’s Office upon receipt of Certificate of Service or Non-Service. Details concerning arrangement for payment will be included in correspondence from the Supreme Court, and can be made via credit card, bank transfer or bank draft. Reference numbers provided by the Sherriff’s Office (in the invoice) must also be quoted when payment is made.

Queensland:
The requesting authority must bear the costs of effecting service of judicial documents in Queensland, Australia.

If service is not effected on the person, then the requesting authority must also bear the costs involved in attempting to effect service.

The exact cost will vary on a case by case basis depending on a number of factors, including, the location where service must be effected, whether the person to be served is cooperative and the number of attempts required to effect service.

The Queensland authorities will seek reimbursement of the service fees from the requesting authority.

At the conclusion of the matter, a Certificate of Service or a Certificate of Non Service will be returned to the requesting authority, together with an invoice for payment.

Western Australia:
There is no fee for service of documents in Western Australia.

South Australia:
There is no fee for service of documents in South Australia.

Tasmania:
The costs of service vary according to the mode of service used. Postal costs vary according to the size and weight of the article. Process servers' costs for personal service vary according to the location of the person served (distance the process server has to travel to effect service), and the number of trips which must be made before service is achieved.

Australian Capital Territory:
The Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court currently charges a flat fee for service. This fee includes up to 3 attempts to serve the documents at the same address and is payable regardless of whether service is successful or not.

The current fee is listed on the Supreme Court website under ‘Foreign Service’. This fee is required to be paid up front.
Please note that an increase in service fees normally occurs on 1 July of each year.

Payment can be made by international funds transfer to the Supreme Court using the following information:

Account Name:  Justice and Community Safety – Courts EFTPOS Clearing Account
SWIFT Code: WPACAU2S
BSB: 032-777
Account number: 002108
Bank name and address: Westpac Banking Corporation, London Circuit, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

Once payment has been completed, please forward a receipt or remittance advice along with the request for service.  This will assist the Supreme Court in identifying the payment.

Northern Territory:
The requesting authority must bear the costs of effecting service of judicial documents in the Northern Territory.

Fees payable are prescribed in the Schedule to the Sheriff Regulations 1967 (NT) and vary according to the distance travelled to effect service. 

An invoice for payment will be sent to the requesting authority along with the Certificate of Service.

Requests for urgent service are considered, but it may not always be possible to assist with expediting the request.

Please note the above for setting of future court dates.

Click here to read all the declarations made by Australia under the Service Convention.

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus
ul. Kollektornaya, 10
220048 Minsk
Belarus

Practical Information:
(The following information was provided by the relevant State authorities or was obtained from the replies to the 2003 Service Convention Questionnaire)

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

Bilateral conventions on judicial co-operation: China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Vietnam.

The Republic of Belarus is a State party to the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] Convention of January 22, 1993 on Legal Aid and Legal Relations on Civil, Family and Criminal Matters.
http://www.cis.minsk.by/main.aspx?uid=74

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Practical Information:

Service of documents in application of article 5, paragraph 1, a) or b) implies the employment of a judicial officer. The costs thereof must be paid in advance, in accordance with article 12 of the Convention. See declarations.

In particular, Declaration 6 reads:

« The Government of Belgium wishes to draw attention to the fact that any request for service filed in accordance with article 5, first paragraph, (a) or (b), requires the intervention of a judicial officer and that, in accordance with article 12, the applicant must pay €165 (including Belgian VAT) in advance for every document served on and intended for a natural or legal person.

This payment must be made directly through a bank or financial institution in Belgium approved by the applicant’s country; bank charges are to be borne by the applicant. If the VAT of the State of origin is applied to the costs of service under international regulations on value added tax, the judicial officer will reimburse any overpayment.

Once it has received the application, the Belgian Central Authority will inform the applicant of the bank account to which the payment must be made and the file reference number to be quoted in communications. The applicant’s submission of proof of payment to the Belgian Central Authority will enable the effective transmission of the request for service to a judicial officer with territorial jurisdiction.

The above rules concerning the payment amount, its prior transfer and the reimbursement of any overpayment also apply to service effected under article 10 (b) and (c) »

The Belgian Central Authority can also be contacted ahead of the transmission of the request, so that the necessary bank details (which depend on the addressee’s place of residence in Belgium) and transaction reference can be provided. In doing so, the requesting party can add the proof of payment to the service request right away and send everything through the post.

Contacting the Belgian Central Authority for this purpose should preferably be done by e-mail via dh1965@just.fgov.be, with the subject line “new request for bank details and transaction reference”. In the e-mail, mention should be made of the name and address of the addressee in Belgium.

Supplementary agreements to the Hague Convention of 17 July 1905 and/or of 1 March 1954 were concluded with: France (Paris, 1 March 1956 – Arts 1 to 4); Germany (Brussels, 25 April 1959 – in particular Arts 1 to 3); Luxembourg (Brussels, 11 and 19 March 1974 – Arts 1 to 3); the Netherlands (Brussels, 30 December 1937 and 7 February 1938).

Bilateral convention on judicial co-operation: United Kingdom (London, 21 June 1922 – Arts 2 to 7). This Convention also applies to the relations with Barbados and Malawi.

Council Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (Strasbourg, 13 November 2007) - European Judicial Atlas in Civil Matters

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Practical Information:

Name of forwarding authority - the forwarding authority is the authority or judicial officer that is competent under the law of your State to forward requests for service abroad

Brief statement as to how incoming requests for service are executed in your State (i.e., how the documents are served) - reference to relevant laws (civil procedure code or court rules)

Brief statement as to whether the Central Authority requires documents, which are to be served under Article 5(1), to be in - or translated into - the official language of your State

List of the types of costs (if any) that are typically reimbursable to your State pursuant to Article 12(2) of the Convention

Indication of the time elapsing from receipt of incoming request for service until forwarding of the certificate of service - see response to question 7

Name, e.g., the body of judicial officers competent to effect service of judicial documents coming from another Contracting State - only applicable for States whose internal law allows for this practice 

List of bilateral or multilateral agreements to which your State is party, as well as provisions of the internal law of your State permitting other methods of transmission of documents coming from abroad for service within the territory of your State

Address of websites containing information relating to the operation of the Convention in your State

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Practical Information:

Brazil shall not accept documents to be served or transmitted unless they are accompanied by a translation into the Portuguese language.

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Practical Information:

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Practical Information:

The Guide is available here.

The FAQs are available here.

Formal Service (Art. 5(1)(a))
The Central Authority of China refers the document to the competent court. The court will serve the document directly to the addressee or the person who is entitled to receive the document. Where direct service is impracticable in some cases, other methods may be employed in accordance with the Civil Procedure Law.

Informal delivery (Art. 5(2))
There is no such method in the Chinese domestic law, and the addressee may refuse to accept it in any case.

Service by a particular method (Art. 5(1)(b))
In such cases, the Central Authority of China forwards the documents to the competent court. The competent court may execute the service to the extent not contrary to Chinese domestic law.

Online treaty library: http://treaty.mfa.gov.cn/Treaty/web/index.jsp

China law library: https://flk.npc.gov.cn/ 

The High People’s Court of Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Guangxi, and Hainan can directly submit requests for service to foreign Central Authorities according to the Hague Service Convention.

Note: The only receiving authority is the Central authority, i.e., the Ministry of Justice of China.

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Practical Information:

Upon the receipt of a request for service, it will be transmitted to the competent authorities of the Macao SAR.

Generally, service can be made by means of registered letters with reception notice or of personal contact of a judicial officer with the addressee (Articles 175 and 203 of the CPC, read together with its Articles 180(1) and (2), 182 and 185).

The service by means of personal contact of a judicial officer with the addressee is only used if the service by means of registered letters fails. When the judicial officer delivers to the addressee the relevant documents, a certificate attesting that the documents have been delivered will be signed by the addressee (Article 185(1) of the CPC).

In certain cases, the lawyer can request the service to be performed by him/her. The lawyer may declare another person duly registered to render forensic services or another lawyer (appointed by the same lawyer) to serve the document (Articles 180(3) and 191 of the CPC).

In addition to the Hague Service Convention, no other multilateral or bilateral agreements specifically on international service are applicable. 

As to internal law, Article 135 of the CPC provides that “The court which is requested for certain act has competence to stipulate the compliance with the Letter of Request according to the law” and that “If the request in the Letter of Request requires the compliance with certain formalities, the request shall be satisfied insofar as such formalities do not contradict the laws of Macao.”

www.court.gov.mo/ (The official website of the Courts of the Macao SAR) (in Chinese and Portuguese only) 

https://www.mp.gov.mo/en/standard/index.html (The official website of the Procuratorate of the Macao SAR)

https://www.al.gov.mo/en/ (The official website of the Legislative Assembly of the Macao SAR)

https://www.io.gov.mo/ (The official website of the Printing Bureau of the Macao SAR Government) (in Chinese and Portuguese only) 

The CPC mentioned above can be consulted online (both in Chinese and Portuguese) at:
http://bo.io.gov.mo/bo/i/99/40/codprocivcn/indice_art.asp and
http://bo.io.gov.mo/bo/i/99/40/codprocivpt/indice_art.asp.

The competent authority to complete a certificate referred to in Article 6 of the Convention is the Primary Court of the Macao SAR. 

The competent authority to receive requests for service forwarded by other Contracting States through consular channels referred to in Article 9 of the Convention is the Procuratorate of the Macao SAR.

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Practical Information:

FORMAL SERVICE (Art.5(1)(a))
Service of documents is effected by the Chief Bailiff of the Court (Order 69 rule 4 of the Rules of the High Court (“RHC”), Chapter 4A, Laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region).  Unless specifically requested, otherwise, formal service will be performed, as the Court deems fit in the circumstances, in one of the following ways:

1. By personal service on addressee or insertion through a letterbox if the addressee is a natural person. (Order 69 rule 3(2) and (3) and Order 10 rule 1(2)(b) of the RHC)

2. By leaving at or sending it by post to the registered office address if the addressee is a limited company or corporation.  (Section 827 of the Companies Ordinance, Chapter 622, Laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) The registered office address of a limited company or corporation could be obtained /verified by visiting the useful link of the Companies Registry at http://www.icris.cr.gov.hk/csci.

3. By personal service on the chairman or president, or the clerk, secretary, treasurer or other similar officer of the company or corporation if the addressee is a limited company or corporation and the registered office is no longer occupied or used by the addressee. (Order 65 rule 3(1) of the RHC)

4. By substituted service if personal service is required while it appears to the Court that it is impracticable for any reason to serve that document in the manner prescribed on that addressee. (Order 69 rule 3(5) and Order 65 rule 4 of the RHC) 

INFORMAL DELIVERY (Art.5(2))
The informal delivery is also carried out by the Chief Bailiff.

SERVICE BY A PARTICULAR METHOD (Art.5(1)(b))
Service by a particular method as requested by the applicant unless such a method is incompatible with the local law.

For service in general, see Order 69, rule 3 and Order 65, rule 3 of the RHC and for service on companies, see section 827 of the Companies Ordinance, Chapter 622, Laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

See: https://www.elegislation.gov.hk

The practice of our court is that whenever such requests are received, they will be forwarded to the competent authority for Hong Kong (Chief Secretary for Administration) for processing. Direct service through Government officials is not available in Hong Kong. However, a private agent (usually a firm of solicitors) may be appointed directly to effect service. Such service can be effected directly without going through the Government or the judiciary.

The Hong Kong Judiciary does not seek reimbursement of the costs. The charges made by solicitors appointed to serve process by foreign judicial officers, officials or other competent persons are not regulated by the Government. They vary depending on the services required and time taken to execute the request.

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Practical Information:

The request must be physically submitted with two complete copies to the Central Authority of Costa Rica, which is the Legal Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship. The envelope must be clearly labeled to avoid misplacement. The physical address is as follows:

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship
Legal Department
Attention: Raquel Vargas Jaubert
Avenida 7-9, Calle 11-13
San José, Costa Rica

Additionally, the request must be sent in digital format, scanned into a single document, to the email: cooperacionjudicialinternacional@rree.go.cr. Please include the name of the courier company that will handle the delivery in this email. This information is essential for the Legal Department to anticipate the documentation and provide traceability reports in the future.

Upon receipt of the request, the Legal Department will verify the completeness of the documentation, ensure that Spanish translations are provided, and confirm that two sets of copies are included. If the request is incomplete, the Legal Department may issue a notice to the requesting State regarding the missing requirements.

Once the request is complete, the Legal Department will have a period of 10 business days to transmit the documentation to the Secretariat of the Supreme Court of Justice.

The Secretariat of the Supreme Court of Justice will then forward the request to the corresponding Judicial Circuit.

In Costa Rica, it is a judge who issues a resolution and orders the service. A judicial server will be authorized to reach the location specified in the request and execute the service.

Once the judicial file has been processed, it returns to the Secretariat of the Supreme Court of Justice from the courts. The Secretariat certifies the documents and forwards them to the Legal Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, which sends the final certification as the Central Authority to the requesting country. (Article 6)

Important Note: According to Costa Rican legislation, notification must be carried out personally at the defendant's residence or workplace. Please refer to the Judicial Notifications Law, Law No. 8687.

All documentation of the request must be officially translated into the Spanish language.

Filling the blanks of the forms in Spanish is most appreciated (see however Art. 7(2)).

Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Costa Rica: www.rree.go.cr

Sistema de Información Jurídica en Línea: https://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas

Secretaría de la Corte Suprema de Justicia de Costa Rica: https://secretariacorte.poder-judicial.go.cr

Contact details:

Practical Information:
(The following information was provided by the relevant State authorities or was obtained from the replies to the 2003, 2008 and/or 2013 Service Convention Questionnaires)

Formal Service (Art. 5(1)(a))
After receiving a request for service the Ministry of Justice checks if the document fulfils the provisions of the Convention. Then the document is referred to the competent court of justice; the court is instructed whether or not the addressee is under an obligation to accept the document. Service is then effected either by mail, through a bailiff appointed by the court, by a public official of the Danish post office authorities or over tyhe telephone. Upon service of the document, the court returns it to the requesting authority or person abroad.

Informal delivery (Art. 5(2))
See formal service.

A translation is not required; in the case of an untranslated document, however, the addressee is informed that he is not, under Danish law, under an obligation to accept it.

Denmark has not entered into particular agreements with other Contracting States in this respect.

No opposition

"As for Article 10(a) Denmark has not declared that it objects to this method of transmission. However, this does not imply that such method is valid service in Denmark. The Danish courts have not yet had the opportunity to rule on the matter." (see response 11 made by the Government of Denmark to the 2003 Service Convention Questionnaire)

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

Supplementary agreements to the Hague Convention of 17 July 1905 and /or of 1 March 1954 were concluded with: Germany (Berlin, 1 June 1910 and 6 January 1932); Austria (8 November 1979) and Luxembourg (15 January 1912).

A multilateral convention on judicial co-operation was concluded between: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden on 26 April 1974.

A bilateral convention exists with the United Kingdom (London, 29 November 1932 – Article 2 to 6).

Council Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil and commercial matters, in accordance with the agreement between the European Community and the Kingdom of Denmark on the service of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil and commercial matters (Brussels, 19 October 2005).

Practical Information:

The Central Authorities are empowered to execute requests for service directly by postal channels if the conditions for service in accordance with Article 5(1)(a) of the Convention have been fulfilled.

Formal Service (Art. 5(1)(a))
Formal service under Article 5(1) of the Convention, on the other hand, is only permissible in Germany if the document to be served and any attachments thereto have been prepared in German or have otherwise been translated into German. In such case, documents may also be served against the addressee’s will (substitute service). This particular form of service is frequently demanded. For more information on substitute service visit the E-Justice Portal (question 7)

Unless requested otherwise, the courts generally perform service in accordance with Article 5(1)(a) of the Convention via the postal service.

Informal delivery (Art. 5(2))
Court officials or bailiffs perform this type of service.

In simple service, under Article 5(2) of the Convention the addressee may refuse to accept the documents without being required to provide any reasons for doing so.

Service by a particular method (Art. 5(1)(b))
Services by special request seldom occur. For more information on methods of service, see European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters – Service of documents – Germany.

Click here to read all the declarations made by Germany under the Service Convention.

Supplementary agreements to the Hague Convention of 17 July 1905 and/or of 1 March 1954 were concluded with: Norway (Berlin, 2 August 1909; Oslo, 17 June 1977); Switzerland (Berlin, 30 April 1910; and 24 December 1929 – in particular Article 18).

Bilateral conventions on judicial co-operation: United Kingdom (London, 20 March 1928 – Articles 2 to 7). United Kingdom (1928) insofar as it also applies to States other than the United Kingdom e.g., Australia, the Bahamas, Canada,  Malaysia and New Zealand; Greece (Athens, 11 May 1938 – Articles 1 to 6); Liechtenstein (17 February / 29 May 1958); Morocco (Rabat, 29 October 1985); Tunisia (Bonn, 19 July 1966), Turkey (Ankara, 28 May 1929 – Articles 9 to 17), United States of America (29 October 1954).

Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (Strasbourg, 13 November 2007) (European Judicial Atlas – Service of Documents)

Regulation (EU) 2020/1784 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2020 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (service of documents) (recast) as soon as it becomes applicable.

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Practical Information:

After the requests arrive at the Ministry of Justice, we firstly check the request and the documents, and if the request and documents are correct, we forward the documents to the court situated in the area where the addressee is for execution.
The manners of service of procedural documents are stipulated in Chapter 34 of the Code of Civil procedure:
Section 311 Service of procedural documents in court premises;
Section 311(1) Electronic service of procedural documents;
Section 312 Service of procedural documents through postal service provider;
Section 313 Service of procedural documents by registered letter;
Section 314 Service of procedural documents by unregistered letter or fax;
Section 315 Service of procedural documents through bailiff, court official, another person or institution;
Section 315(1) Service of procedural documents arranged by participant in proceeding;
Section 316 Service of procedural documents in foreign states and on extra-territorial citizens of Republic of Estonia;
Section 316(1) Implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council;
Section 317 Public service of procedural documents.
The certificate of service or non-service is returned by the court to the Ministry of Justice and then forwarded with the annexed documents to the requesting State.

European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters – Service of documents – Estonia

Generally documents are served without charge.
One exception to this is that procedural documents may be served through a bailiff (i.e. when forced service is requested). A fee of 30 euros to 60 euros is charged for service through bailiff. In all cases the "invoice" (incl. payment information, deadline, etc.) is added to the documents to be returned to the applicant. 

European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters – Service of documents – Estonia – question 8

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

For more information on bilateral agreements on judicial co-operation, please click on Legislation regulating service of judicial and extrajudicial documents.

Council Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (Strasbourg, 13 November 2007)

https://e-justice.europa.eu/
International judicial cooperation - Ministry of Justice
International Judicial Co-operation in Civil and Commercial Matters – Ministry of Justice.

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Formal Service (Art. 5(1)(a))
The national provisions for the service of documents can be found in the Code of Judicial Procedure (Oikeudenkäymiskaari, 4/1734), Chapter 11. 

When the court takes responsibility for service in a legal dispute, service takes place primarily by post. The letter may arrive either with advice of receipt to the post office or direct to the home, in which case the certificate of receipt in the envelope must be returned to the court. If it is likely that service of a writ of summons by post will not be successful, or if responsibility for service is given to a party, service will be performed by a bailiff.

The service of a trial document other than a writ of summons may also be carried out by sending the document as a normal letter to the post address or another address notified to the court by the interested party. This means that for example invitations, exhortations and notices may be served on a party to civil proceedings electronically, if the party in question has indicated such an address - an e-mail address or a fax number - to the court as the address for service.

Services of documents other than trial documents are performed by a process server at the request of an authority or a private individual.

In cross-border cases, the requests for service of documents by foreign authorities based on the Hague Convention are forwarded from the Central Authority to the Finnish district court in the area where the addressee has his/her/its’ place of residence. The service is performed by the District Court’s process server. The practical procedure is usually that a process server serves the documents on the addressee personally.

Informal delivery (Art. 5(2))
Service by a particular method (Art. 5(1)(b))

For more information on methods of service, see:

Service of notices – Finnish Courts: https://oikeus.fi/tuomioistuimet/fi/index/asiointijajulkisuus/asiakirjojentoimittaminentuomioistuimiin.html

European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters – Service of documents – Finland: https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_service_of_documents-371-fi-en.do?init=true&member=1

Act on International Judicial Assistance and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (Laki kansainvälisestä oikeusavusta sekä tuomioiden tunnustamisesta ja täytäntöönpanosta siviili- ja kauppaoikeuden alalla, 426/2015), available in Finnish and Swedish: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2015/20150426. 

Finlex Data Bank (an online database of up-to-date legislative and other judicial information of Finland):
https://finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset/2015/20150426

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Les articles 688-1 à 688-8 du code de procédure civile prévoient deux modes de notification possibles pour les actes en provenance d’un Etat étranger dont la notification est demandée par les autorités de cet Etat : la simple remise ou la signification.

Notification formelle (art. 5(1)(a))            
Notification formelle (mode secondaire, lié à une demande expresse du requérant) : à la demande d’une partie, ou d’office, il est possible de faire signifier l’acte par voie de signification, accomplie par un commissaire de justice. Dans ce cas, le ministère de la Justice transmet l’acte qui lui a été adressé à la chambre nationale des commissaires de justice, laquelle, à son tour, l’adresse à un commissaire de justice territorialement compétent pour le signifier.

En pratique, il n’est recouru à la voie de signification par un commissaire de justice qu’en cas de demande expresse du requérant.

En effet, dès lors que l’intervention d’un commissaire de justice a été expressément demandée, il incombe au requérant de supporter les frais occasionnés par l’intervention de cet officier ministériel.

Des règles dérogatoires sont applicables lorsque l'acte doit être notifié à une personne domiciliée dans une collectivité d'outre-mer. Dans ce cas, il convient de prendre contact préalablement avec l'autorité centrale française. 

Simple remise (art. 5(2))
Dans le cas de la notification par voie de simple remise (mode principal), l’acte est transmis au ministère public près le tribunal judiciaire dans le ressort duquel il doit être notifié. Il est ensuite remis au destinataire par les soins d’un fonctionnaire de police ou d’un militaire de la Gendarmerie nationale, requis à cette fin par le Parquet. Cette notification est faite sans frais.

Pour de plus amples informations relatives aux formes de signification ou de notification, voir : articles 688-1 à 688-8 du code de procédure civile ou Réseau Judiciaire Européen en matière civile et commerciale – Signification et notification des actes – France.

Article 688-6 du code de procédure civile : « L'acte est notifié dans la langue de l'Etat d'origine. Toutefois le destinataire qui ne connaît pas la langue dans laquelle l'acte est établi peut en refuser la notification et demander que celui-ci soit traduit ou accompagné d'une traduction en langue française, à la diligence et aux frais de la partie requérante ».

Pour plus d’informations : articles 688-1 à 688-8 du code de procédure civile

Aucun frais pour les services de l’Etat, aucune taxe ne sont perçus à l’occasion d’une notification internationale en provenance d’un Etat contractant.

Notification formelle (art. 5(1)(a))            
Conformément à l’article 12 de la convention, lorsque la notification de l’acte est effectuée par un commissaire de justice (par voie de signification), le requérant est tenu de payer les frais occasionnés par l’intervention de cet officier ministériel.

Le montant des frais dont la charge incombe au requérant dans le cas d’une notification par un commissaire de justice est fixe : 48,36 euros. Ces frais sont acquittés exclusivement au moyen d’un virement bancaire sur le compte bancaire dont les références sont indiquées ci-dessous. La justification du virement bancaire doit également impérativement accompagner l’acte et comporter les références du virement et le nom de l’établissement bancaire d’origine (la somme est payable d’avance ainsi que le prescrit l’art. 688-5 du code de procédure civile et en l’absence de dispositions conventionnelles en sens contraire).

RIB:
Code banque : 30004
Code Agence : 02837
Numéro de compte : 00011021524
Clé RIB : 94
Agence : BNP Paribas IDF Institutions
IBAN : FR76 3000 4028 3700 0110 2152 494
BIC : BNPAFRPPXXX

Simple remise (art. 5(2))
Dans les cas d’une simple remise de l’acte, dans la mesure où celle-ci est assurée par les services de la Police nationale ou de la Gendarmerie nationale, la notification est totalement gratuite pour le requérant.

Article 10(b)
Il est possible, en France, de recourir au mode de transmission prévu à l’article 10(b) de la convention. Dans ce cas, le requérant doit requérir directement un commissaire de justice, à l’effet de voir signifier l’acte. Le montant des frais encourus s'élève à 48,36 euros.

Pour plus d’informations, voir le décret n° 96-1080 du 12 décembre 1996

Chambre nationale des commissaires de justice
Services des Actes Internationaux
44 rue de Douai
75009 Paris
Tél. : +33 (0)1 49 70 12 90
Fax : +33 (0)1 40 16 99 35
https://commissaire-justice.fr

Pour consulter les traités bilatéraux et multilatéraux auxquels la France est partie, voir : https://basedoc.diplomatie.gouv.fr/exl-php/recherche/mae_internet___traites

Le règlement (UE) 2020/1784 relatif à la signification et à la notification dans les États membres des actes judiciaires et extrajudiciaires en matière civile ou commerciale (refonte) Atlas judiciaire européen – Signification et notification des actes (refonte).

Circulaire du ministère de la Justice relative aux notifications internationales des actes judiciaires et extrajudiciaires en matière civile et commerciale – février 2006

Modalités de transmission des actes judiciaires ou extrajudiciaires à destination de l’étranger – ministère de la Justice

Légifrance – l’essentiel de droit français

Contact details:

• Ms. Ketevan Sarajishvili
  Head of International Relations and Legal Cooperation Department
  Language of communication: Georgian, English, Russian
  Email: ksarajishvili@justice.gov.ge
• Mrs. Ana Gvinjilia
  Head of International Legal Cooperation Unit
  International Relations and Legal Cooperation Department
  Language of communication: Georgian, English, Russian
  E-mail: aghvinjilia@justice.gov.ge

Practical Information:

Courts of First Instance
Courts of Appeal
Supreme Court

Contact details:

Hellenic Ministry of Justice
Directorate of Special Legal Affairs
Department of Private International Law
96 Mesogeion Av.
Athens 11527
Greece

Practical Information:
(The following information was provided by the relevant State authorities or was obtained from the replies to the 2003 and/or 2008 Service Convention Questionnaires)

The Ministry of Justice, Transparency & Human Rights

Article 134 (1)(a) of the Civil Procedure Code: the party requesting service of documents abroad submits the document to the competent Public Prosecutor (of the Court of First Instance, Court of Appeal or Supreme Court of Appeal) through its lawyer, who afterwards forwards it to the competent foreign authority.

Law 1334 / 1983 implemented the Hague Service Convention in Greece.

The service of judicial and extrajudicial documents is executed by virtue of an order of the competent Public Prosecutor namely the Prosecutor of the district where the person being served is resident. According to the Civil Procedure Code, articles 122 and subsequent, the service of documents is performed by a process server.

For more information on methods of service, see European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters – Service of documents – Greece

Greece has declared that formal service will be effected only if the document to be served is written in, or translated into, Greek.

Click here to read all the declarations made by Greece under the Service Convention.

The cost of service will be €50, starting from August 1st, 2013.

Payment of fees shall be made by bank transfers payable to the Hellenic Ministry of Justice, Transparency & Human Rights. All service requests should comply with the described method. However, if unaccompanied by proper payment and bank receipt, they will be returned without processing. The website provides detailed information on method of payment.

European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters – Service of documents – Greece (question 8).

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

Greece has not acceded to the Hague Conventions of 1905 and 1954 and has not therefore concluded with other Contracting States any additional to the above agreements.

Greece has concluded bilateral agreements on legal assistance with Germany (11 May 1938), the Czech Republic and Slovakia (22 October 1980) and Cyprus (5 March 1984).

Council Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (Strasbourg, 13 November 2007) (European Judicial Atlas – Service of Documents)

Contact details:

http://legalaffairs.gov.in

Practical Information:

All requests for service of documents should be in English language or accompanied by an English translation

Click here to read all the declarations made by India under the Service Convention.

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Formal Service (Art. 5 (1)(a))
Personal or by post.

Informal delivery (Art. 5(2))
This method can be used where the addressee has indicated in writing that he will accept service, or that service may be effected by delivering documents to an intermediary e.g. a solicitor acting for him.

For information on methods of service, see:
Order: 121B Service of Foreign Process (Denmark and outside the EU, 2005)
Order: 121 Service of documents
Order: 9 Service of Summons

See also European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters – Service of Documents -Ireland

The Consular Convention between Ireland and the United States of America, signed at Dublin on 1 May 1950 provides in Article 17 (1) (g) that a consular officer may, within his district, serve or cause to be served judicial documents or take evidence on behalf of courts of the sending state in a manner permitted under special arrangements on this subject between the High Contracting Parties or otherwise not inconsistent with the laws of the territory. 

To consult bilateral and multilateral treaties to which Ireland is a party, click here.

Council Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (Strasbourg, 13 November 2007) (European Judicial Atlas – Service of Documents).

Contact details:

Practical Information:
(The following information was provided by the relevant State authorities or was obtained from the replies to the 2003 and 2008 Service Convention Questionnaires)

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Service is effected either by registered post with a certificate of receipt of service or personally delivered by the clerks of the various Magistrate’s courts.

If the person to be served is not at the address given, the documents can be accepted by a member of the family who lives at the same address and appears to be at least 18 years old. In addition, if the documents are served by the clerk of the court, on his third visit to an address where no answer has been obtained, the clerk can post the document on the door of the intended recipient – and in this case this is regarded as legal service of the documents.

Documents intended for residents of the Palestinian Authority
Please note that documents intended for residents of the Palestinian Authority should be forwarded through the Director of Courts. This authority forwards the documents to the Palestinian Authority. In addition:

a. The documents are to be translated into Arabic and Hebrew.
b. The request must include the full name (four names) of the recipient.
c. The request must include the Identification Number of the recipient.
d. The request must include the full address as far as possible.

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

To consult bilateral and multilateral treaties to which Israel is a party, click here.

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Formal Service (Art. 5 (1)(a))
The Minister for Foreign Affairs refers the document to the competent court of justice. Service is then effected either by post (special postal service, Article 49 of the Mail Act; a report of service is drawn up by the postman) or through a marshal.

Informal delivery (Art. 5(2))
The Minister for Foreign Affairs refers the documents sent to it to the competent court clerk. The court clerk informs the addressee of the documents to be served and the addressee then either presents himself / herself to the court or requests that they be forwarded to him / her. In the latter case special postal service will be effected (Article 49 of the Mail Act; the postman will draw up a report of the delivery).When the person to be served refuses to accept the documents, or fails to appear or to apply for forwarding the documents to him / her within three weeks of the date on which he/she was informed, the documents will be returned to the applicant.

Service by a particular method (Art. 5(1)(b))
When it is so requested, a marshal will effect service by delivering the document directly to the person after ascertaining that he / she is the addressee.

Full translation is required for any document to be served under Article 5(1)(a)(b). We serve the translation to the addressee together with the original.

Japan has not concluded any agreements under Article 20(b).

In principle, the applicant incurs no charges because the National Treasury bears costs of service. However, in the case of service by a marshal, a fee is charged and should be reimbursed. To that end, the court which effected the service sends a bill of the costs to be reimbursed to the applicant together with the certificate referred to in Article 6.

When executed by a marshal, the amount to be paid for the performance of service is 1,800 yen (service in working hours on weekdays) or 4,200 yen (service in night times, weekends or holidays) plus the marshal’s travel expenses, which is 37 yen per kilometer from the competent district court to which he / she belongs. 

Consular Convention between Japan and the United States of America

Consular Convention between Japan and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Agreements or arrangements concerning judicial assistance between Japan and; Swiss Confederation, Kingdom of Denmark, Republic of Italy, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Federative Republic of Brazil, Kingdom of Thailand, Federal Republic of Germany, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Syrian Arab Republic, Kingdom of Norway, Australia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Austria, State of Kuwait, Republic of Iraq, State of Israel

Practical Information:
(The following information was provided by the relevant State authorities or was obtained from the replies to the Service Convention Questionnaires)

- Attorney General for Canada
- Attorney General, Ministry of the Attorney General or Minister of Justice of a province or territory
- Clerks of the courts and their deputies for a judicial or a court district.
- Central Authority for Alberta
- Deputy Minister of Justice, Northwest Territories
- Huissiers and sheriffs
- Local registrars
- Members of the law societies of all provinces and territories - Members of the Board of Notaries of the Province of Québec (for non-litigious matters only)
- Revenu Québec

For service or notification requests transmitted to a Canadian Central Authority under Article 5(1)(a), service or notification will be effected using the same methods as would be used to serve or notify judicial documents for proceedings in the Central Authority’s jurisdiction.

The normal procedure for service in Canada is personal service made by a process server in Alberta, a huissier in Québec, an enforcement officer of the Ministry of the Attorney General in Ontario or a sheriff or deputy sheriff elsewhere in Canada, on an individual or on a corporation by handing a copy of the document to the individual, or to an officer, director or agent of the corporation at its place of business.

Notification in Québec may be made by delivering the original or certified copy or abstract of the act, document or notice to the person to be notified and obtaining a receipt therefore [XpressPost].

Central Authorities in Canada will consider requests for service or notification by a particular method requested by the applicant under 5(1)(b) to the extent that such a method is not inconsistent with the law of their jurisdiction.

Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal: Federal Courts Rules, SOR/98-106.

Alberta: Alberta Rules of Court, Alta. Reg. 124/2010.

British Columbia: Supreme Court Civil Rules, B.C. Reg. 168/2009.

Manitoba: Court of Queen's Bench Rules, Man. Reg. 553/88.

New Brunswick: Rules of Court, N.B. Reg. 82-73.

Newfoundland and Labrador: Rules of the Supreme Court, 1986, S.N.L. 1986, c 42, Sch D.

Northwest Territories: Rules of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, N.W.T. Reg. 010-96.

Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia Civil Procedure Rules.

Nunavut: Rules of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, N.W.T. Reg. 010-96.

Ontario: Rules of Civil Procedure, R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 194.

Prince Edward Island: Rules of Civil Procedure.

Québec:
Service: Code of Civil Procedure, R.S.Q., chapter C-25.01.

Saskatchewan: Queen's Bench Rules.

Yukon: Rules of Court, Y.O.I.C. 2009/65.

Service by a particular method (Art. 5 (1)(b))

Central Authorities in Canada will consider requests for service by a particular method requested by the applicant under 5(1)(b) to the extent that such a method is not inconsistent with the law of their jurisdiction.

Informal delivery (Art. 5(2))

The practice of informal delivery ("par simple remise") of judicial or extrajudicial documents is not known in Canada.

For Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, all documents must be written in or translated into English.

For Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario and Saskatchewan all documents must be written in or translated into English or French.

For New Brunswick and the Yukon, all documents must be written in or translated into English or French. The Central Authority of New Brunswick or the Yukon may reserve the right to require documents to be translated into English or French depending on the language understood by the addressee.

For Québec, originating documents should be drafted in or translated into French. In some instances, a French translation of the “summary of the document to be served” may suffice subject to the recipient’s consent.
The Central Authority for Québec may, on request in writing by the forwarding authority, allow service or notification of documents drafted in English or translated from a foreign language into English subject to the forwarding authority confirming that the recipient understands English.
Recipients in Québec may object to receiving a document and challenge the validity of a service or notification if the translation requirements applicable in Québec are not complied with.

Click here to read all the declarations made by Canada under the Service Convention.

Costs for the execution of service will be $100 Can. In Québec, execution of service by a bailiff (huissier) costs $100, and notification is free of charge.

Click here to access the list of all provincial and territorial Central Authorities designated by Canada to receive requests for service in their jurisdiction.

Click here for information on methods of payment.

Alberta: 4 weeks
British Columbia: 3-6 weeks
Manitoba: 3-4 weeks
New Brunswick: 2-4 weeks
Newfoundland and Labrador: 4 - 6 weeks
Northwest Territories:3-6 weeks
Nova Scotia: 2-4 weeks
Nunavut: 4-6 weeks
Ontario: 4-6 weeks
Prince Edward Island: 2-3 weeks
Québec: 4 weeks
Saskatchewan: 2-4 weeks

Many businesses commonly referred to as "Process Servers" serve judicial and extra-judicial documents, for a fee. These businesses are listed in the Yellow Pages under "process servers".

In the province of Québec, service must be effected by a sheriff or a member of the Chambre des huissiers de justice du Québec.

Chambre des huissiers de justice du Québec
100, Alexis-Nihon, bur. 250
Montréal (Québec) H4M 2N7
Telephone : +1 (514) 721 1100
Toll free: +1 (855) 721 1100
Fax: +1 (514) 721 7878
Email: chjq@chjq.ca
http://www.chjq.ca/

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

Quebec:
https://www.quebec.ca/gouvernement/ministere/justice (Ministère de la Justice | Gouvernement du Québec (quebec.ca))

Saskatchewan:
www.sasklawcourts.ca
www.qp.gov.sk.ca (to view Saskatchewan legislation, regulations, rules of court and court forms)

Practical Information:

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Formal Service (Art. 5(1)(a))
The methods of service are prescribed by the Civil Procedure Act (Art. 133-149).

Documents shall be served by e- mail, or through a particular court officer or court employee, through the competent administrative body, a notary public or directly by the court or electronic channels, according to the special law.

Bilateral agreements on mutual legal assistance in civil matters: Bosnia & Herzegovina (Split, 26 February 1996 and Split,17 June 2002); North Macedonia (Skopje, 2 September 1994); Russian Federation (Moscow, 24 February 1962); Serbia (Belgrade, 15 September 1997); Turkey (Ankara, 10 February1999). 

The Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (service of documents applies between all Member States of the European Union (e- Justice Portal)

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Translation is required if the addressee refuses to accept the document because the document is not prepared in the official language of Latvia (Latvian) or in a language that the addressee understands.

In such a case the document is returned to the requesting State to be translated either into Latvian or any other language that the addressee has specified. 

Latvia asks EUR 133,33 (including VAT) charge for each request for service of documents. The payment must be settled through a bank transfer and all bank commission fees must be covered by the person who settles the principal payment for service of documents.

Bank account information:
Registration No. 90001497619
Registered office: 27-32 Lāčplēša street, Riga, LV-1011, Latvia
Bank: Swedbank AS
Account No.: LV93HABA0551038096742
SWIFT code: HABALV22
Payment purpose: information on the addressee

Practical Information:
(The following information was provided by the relevant State authorities or was obtained from the replies to the 2003 Service Convention Questionnaire)

Documents may be served (delivered) to a person:

- sent by registered letter at the residential, official or registered office address of the person (the addressee);
- served personally upon signed acknowledgement at the residence, official or registered office address of the person (the addressee);
- other methods of service provided this method of service (delivery) ensures that the document is served (the entire information contained therein will be delivered (will become known to) the recipient.

The fee for service of documents in the Republic of Lithuania is EUR 110 (one hundred ten euro).

The application for service of documents shall be accompanied with the evidence supporting the payment of the fee by a bank transfer to the account of the Chamber of Judicial Officers of Lithuania:

Chamber of Judicial Officers of Lithuania
Address: Konstitucijos Ave. 15, LT-09319 Vilnius, Republic of Lithuania Account No. LT92 4010 0424 0031 5815, AB "DnB bankas",
bank code 40100 Data accumulated and stored in the Register of Legal Entities, code 126198978.
Tel. +370 5 2750067, +370 5 275 0068
E-mail: info@antstoliurumai.lt
Website: www.antstoliurumai.lt

Where in relation to the submission of the application the fee of EUR 110 is not paid, and no documents supporting the payment of the fee are submitted, the Central Authority shall return the documents in the same order as they were received, indicate the reason for returning the documents, and provide the information about the amount of the fee and possible payment methods. The return of the documents does not mean the documents cannot be submitted for service repeatedly.

Within the Republic of Lithuania, the documents can be served without having paid the fee of EUR 110, provided the applicant submits the evidence that the fee has been paid or compensated from the funds of the State-guaranteed legal assistance.

In case the application includes a request for service of the documents in a specific way requiring additional expenses the applicant shall defray the expenses not included in the fee of EUR 110 in advance and in the specific required way according to the documents supporting the amount of the specific expenses submitted by the Chamber of Judicial Officers of Lithuania (bailiffs).

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

Bilateral conventions on judicial co-operation: Azerbaijan, Belarus, People’s Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Republic of Moldova, Poland, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.

Agreement between Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia on legal assistance and legal relations.

Council Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (Strasbourg, 13 November 2007) (European Judicial Atlas – Service of Documents).

Contact details:

Mme Anita LECUIT, Avocat général
tél.: +352 47 59 81-2329/2393
Email: anita.lecuit@justice.etat.lu

en son absence / in her absence:

Mme Monique SCHMITZ, Premier avocat général
tél.: +352 47 59 81-2329/2393
Email: monique.schmitz@justice.etat.lu

Practical Information:

Lorsque des actes judiciaires étrangers sont signifiés en application des articles 5(a) et 10(b) et (c), par l'intermédiaire d'un huissier luxembourgeois, ils doivent être rédigés en français ou en allemand, ou être accompagnés d'une traduction conforme dans l’une de ces langues. Le Luxembourg exige la traduction intégrale de l’acte à signifier et des pièces.

Exceptionnellement l’Autorité centrale peut accepter un acte rédigé dans une autre langue s’il est établi que le destinataire comprend la langue et accepte l’acte volontairement.

Cliquer ici pour consulter toutes les déclarations faites par le Luxembourg dans le cadre de la Convention Notification.

Le Luxembourg n’applique en principe pas l’article 12 en relation avec les modes de notifications ou de significations prévus à l’article 5.

Dans le cadre des modes de notifications ou de significations prévus à l’article 5 le Luxembourg renonce en principe au remboursement des frais occasionnés par les notifications ou significations.

En cas de transmission directe de l’acte par les soins d’un huissier de justice, les frais à charge du requérant englobent un droit fixe de 72 euros, les frais de voyage et la TVA (17%). Les frais de voyage s’élèvent à 0.72 euro pour chaque kilomètre parcouru à l’aller et au retour. A l’intérieur de la Ville de Luxembourg les frais son tarifés à 10 euros. A l’intérieur des villes d’Esch-sur-Alzette et de Diekirch le forfait est fixé à 5 euros. Si l’huissier de justice doit remettre plusieurs copies d’une acte il lui est dû par copie supplémentaire ¼ du droit fixe (c'est-à-dire 18 euros) ainsi que la ½ du droit fixe par partie supplémentaire. En outre, lorsque l’huissier ne peut signifier à personne et doit contrôler l’adresse, les frais sont augmentés de 1/10 du droit fixe (7,2 euros). S’y ajoutent encore, lorsque l’acte doit être enregistré au Luxembourg, un droit fixe de 12 euros et un droit de timbre de 2 euros par feuille.

En sus des frais et débours susmentionnés peuvent être facturés, le cas échéant, des frais occasionnés par un envoi postal ou des frais de stationnement.

La facture est envoyée au demandeur. Certains huissiers exigent qu’une avance sur frais soit payée avant de procéder à la signification ; d’autres, procèdent immédiatement à la signification, mais ne rendent l’original de l’acte signifié qu’après l’obtention du paiement.

Chambre des huissiers de justice du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
65, rue d’Eich
L-1461 Luxembourg
http://www.huissier.lu

Le Règlement (UE) 2020/1784 du Parlement européen et du Conseil du 25 novembre 2020 relatif à la signification et à la notification dans les États membres des actes judiciaires et extrajudiciaires en matière civile ou commerciale (signification ou notification des actes) (refonte) (Atlas judiciaire européen : Portail e-Justice européen - Signification ou notification des actes (refonte) (europa.eu).

Des accords additionnels à la Convention de La Haye du 17 juillet 1905 ou celle du 1er mars 1954 ont été conclus avec : Autriche (17 mars 1972) ; Danemark (15 janvier 1912) et Norvège (premier juin 1910 – articles 1 et 2). 

Conventions bilatérales d’entraide judiciaire : Belgique (Bruxelles, 11 et 19 mars 1974 - articles 1 à 3) ; France (Paris, 14 mars 1884 ; aussi, échange des déclarations du 23 juillet 1956) ; Pays-Bas (9 janvier, 11 et 14 février 1974) ; Suisse (12 et 15 février 1979).

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Contact details:

Practical Information:

In relation to Article 5, when the judicial and extrajudicial documents to be served in Mexican territory are written in a language other than Spanish, they must be accompanied by the corresponding Spanish translation.

Click here to read all the declarations and reservations made by Mexico under this Convention.

No cost.

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated - please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

Multilateral conventions on judicial co-operation:
- Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory (Panama City, 13 January 1975).
- Additional Protocol to the Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory (Montevideo, 8 May 1979).
www.oas.org

Contact details:

Practical Information:

De manière générale, la simple remise de l'acte (art. 5(2)) est utilisée.

Dans le cas de la notification par voie de simple remise (mode principal), l'acte est reçu par la Direction des Services Judiciaires, autorité centrale, puis transmis au Parquet Général.

Le Parquet Général adresse l'acte à remettre à la Sûreté Publique dont un agent, requis à cette fin par le Parquet, est chargé de la remise au destinataire. Cette notification est faite sans frais.

Les articles 136 à 183 du Code de procédure civile régissent la procédure de la signification.

A la demande d'une partie, ou d'office, il est possible de faire signifier l'acte par voie de signification, accomplie par un huissier de justice. Dans cas, lorsqu'un acte est reçu de l'étranger, la Direction des services judiciaires le transmet au Parquet Général qui en saisit un huissier.

En pratique, il n'est recouru à la voie de signification par un huissier de justice, qu'en cas de demande expresse du requérant. Ce mode de remise engendre des frais.

En dehors des exigences de l’article 7 de la Convention et dans la mesure où les indications du formulaire permettent d’obtenir les renseignements suffisants sur la nature et l’objet de l’acte, la Principauté de Monaco n’a pas d’exigence particulière pour ce qui concerne les traductions des actes.

En revanche, au cas par cas, des demandes d’éclaircissement pourront être demandées à la partie requérante.

Aucun frais pour les services de l’Etat, aucune taxe ne sont perçus à l’occasion d’une notification internationale en provenance d’un Etat contractant.

La simple remise de l'acte est gratuite pour le requérant.
En revanche, si le mode de remise choisi par l'autorité requérante est la signification, c'est-à-dire la remise de l'acte par un huissier, le paiement de frais sera exigé. 

A Monaco, les délais d’exécution d’une demande de notification par remise et la remise effective excèdent rarement un mois.À Monaco, les délais d'exécution d'une demande de notification par remise et la remise effective excèdent rarement un mois.

En cas de défaillance du destinataire, plusieurs tentatives de remise sont effectuées dans un délai n'excédant pas, de manière générale, 6 à 8 semaines.

Huissiers de Justice :

Mme Marie-Thérèse ESCAUT-MARQUET
O. de l’Ordre de Saint-Charles
29, boulevard des Moulins
(Téléphone : +377 93.30.74.03)

Mme Claire NOTARI
“L’Héraclès” 17
boulevard Albert Ier
(Téléphone : +377 97.97.09.09)

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Contact details:

Practical Information:

For the Kingdom in Europe: the Public Prosecutors and the Supreme Court Procurator General in cases heard or to be heard by the Supreme Court, as well as the courts and the bailiffs. 

For Aruba:
the Procurator General
Havenstraat 2
Oranjestad
Aruba
tel.: +297 582 1415
fax: +297 583 8891
e-mail: om.aruba@setarnet.aw

Formal Service (Article 5(1)(a))
If the documents are to be served in the Court District of The Hague, the Central Authority sends them to a randomly selected bailiff, with the request to serve the documents on the person concerned. If documents are to be served in another court district, the Central Authority sends them to the designated Public Prosecutor’s Office / International Legal Assistance Center (IRC) and requests for service by a bailiff.
The Public Prosecutor will serve by way of police; also in practice done via postal service - if no one is there, a message is left stating where the document can be collected.

Informal delivery (Article 5(2))
With regard to the authorities involved, informal delivery works in the same way as formal service (see above). The explanatory memorandum to the Implementation Act states that, as a rule, a local police officer in the Court District concerned should be deployed by the Public Prosecutor for an issue in the Dutch language. However in practice, there is no real uniformity. Depending on where the documents are to be served, they are sometimes served via postal channels, by the police or by a member of the "documents service brigade".

Service by a particular method (Article 5(1)(b))
A special request has never been received.

For more information on service of documents, see European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters – Service of documents – The Netherlands.

Charges are only incurred if documents are served by a bailiff. The charges vary according to the request and the bailiff concerned. When implementation documents are sent to the requesting state, the bill of the bailiff’s charges is also sent.

Also, see European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters – Service of documents – The Netherlands (question 8).

Contact details:

Ministry of Justice
Dimitrie Cupovski no. 9
1000 Skopje

Practical Information:
(The following information was provided by the relevant State authorities or was obtained from the replies to the 2003 and/or 2008 Service Convention Questionnaires)

* See also the declaration made by Greece on 27 July 2009.

Click here to read all the declarations made by the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia under the Service Convention.

Click here to read all the declarations made by the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia under the Service Convention.

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

Contact details:

Regular Postal address:
The Norwegian Civil Affairs Authorities
(Statens sivilrettsforvaltning)
Address: P.O Box 2105 Vika
0125 OSLO
NORWAY

Delivery address (for documents sent by courier):
The Norwegian Civil Affairs Authorities
Holbergs gate 1
0166 OSLO
NORWAY

Practical Information:

The Central Authority forwards the document to the competent District or City Court instructing the Court to effect service. The Court will sometimes effect service itself, but very often this task is carried out by a process server.

In general, a process server is used. If the documents are written in Norwegian, Swedish or Danish or accompanied by a translation into one of these languages and if it does not include a date set for hearing in the near future, the documents may be served by post.

Under the regulations adopted by Royal Decree on 12 September 1969, requests for service will only be complied with when the document to be served is written in Norwegian, Danish or Swedish, or if the request is accompanied by a translation into one of these languages, unless the document is meant to be delivered only to an addressee who accepts it voluntarily. However, the Ministry of Justice may also in other cases permit the service of documents if it is convinced that the addressee understands the language used in the document.

Norway has not entered into any agreement with respect to article 20(b).

Supplementary agreements to the Hague Convention of 17 July 1905 and/or of 1 March 1954 were concluded with: Austria; Germany (Berlin, 2 August 1909); Luxembourg (1 June 1910 – Articles 1 and 2).

A multilateral convention on judicial co-operation was concluded between: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden on 26 April 1974.

Lugano Convention of 16 September 1988.

Bilateral convention on judicial co-operation: Austria (21 May 1984); Germany (17 June 1977); United Kingdom (London, 31 January 1931 - Articles 2 to 5).

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

Contact details:

Practical Information:

The Office of the Court Administrator shall cause the service of judicial documents through courts having jurisdiction over the address indicated in the request for service. Thereafter, the
concerned Judge to whom the request was forwarded to shall assign a sheriff, process server, or any other competent personnel to serve the document personally, unless the same is impracticable.

For more information on modes of service, please see the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended (A.M. No. 19-10-20-SC, 15 October 2019).

https://oca.judiciary.gov.ph/hague-service-convention/

https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/13552/
Administrative Order No. 251-2020

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Formal Service (Art. 5 (1)(a))
The Polish Central Authority is not directly involved in the service of documents. Documents are sent to competent courts. These courts may use for formal service the post, a bailiff or the court’s service officials. The formal service may also be conducted by directly handing a document to the addressee in the court registry.

Informal delivery (Art. 5(2))
Informal delivery within the meaning of Article 5(2) may be conducted only by directly handing a document to the addressee in the court registry.

Service by a particular method (Art. 5(1)(b))
Service by a particular method requested by the applicant may be conducted, for example, by police officers or by notary.

For more information on methods of service, see European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters – Service of documents – Poland.

The document, which is to be served under Article 5(1) of the Convention, should be generally translated into Polish. According to Article 1132(2) of the Polish Code Civil Procedure, if a court or other authority of a foreign state applies to a Polish court for the service of document on a person staying in Poland, without attaching a translation of the document into Polish, the document is served on the addressee if he chooses to accept it.

The only exception is provided by Agreement of 5 July 1987 between Poland and China, which allows enclosing a translation of judicial documents into English. However in practice, documents from China which are delivered to a Polish authority with translation into English should be translated into Polish by the Central Authority or by the competent regional court.

Bilateral conventions on judicial co-operation: Belarus, Bulgaria, China (People’s Republic of), Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine.

Council Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (Strasbourg, 13 November 2007) (European Judicial Atlas – Service of Documents).

Contact details:

https://dgaj.justica.gov.pt/Tribunais/Cooperacao-Judiciaria-Internacional (Portuguese)

https://dgaj.justica.gov.pt/English/International-Judicial-Cooperation (English)

Practical Information:

The Central Authority forwards the documents to the competent court/entity (of the area in which the addressee usually resides) to perform the service. The methods prescribed by our domestic law for the service of documents in domestic actions are the following:- service by registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt;
- service by regular mail in case of failure of the service by registered mail;
- personal service by a court clerk/implementing agents;
- if the first attempt is not successful, personal service by a court clerk/implementing service by prior arrangement of the exact time of the service on the person to be served or on another person present at the specified location who is shown to be in the best position for passing on the communication.

Once documents are served, they are returned to the Central Authority to be forwarded to the competent entities of the requesting State.

For more information on methods of service, see:
a) European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters - Service of documents - Portugal
b) e-Justice Portal

In case of personal service by a court clerk no costs are incurred. Should the court opt for postal service then it is responsible for any costs incurred without possibility of reimbursement.Costs could be incurred when service is performed by implementing agents, lawyers and solicitors. 

Portugal will invoke Article 12(2)(b) of the Convention only if the applicant requests a particular method of service in which an expert is needed. 

Contact details:

Practical Information:

The following data is in accordance with the recent survey conducted by the National Court of Administration.

In 2012, the Central Authority received 604 requests for service. Of these:
• 200 were executed in less than 2 months
• 240 were executed in 2-4 months
• 99 were executed in 4-6 months
• 21 were executed in 6-12 months
• 8 were executed in more than 12 months
• 4 are currently pending

In 2014, 435 requests were received. Of these:
• 259 were executed in less than 2 months
• 73 were executed in 2-4 months
• 18 were executed in 4-6 months
• 22 executed in 6-12 months
• 0 were executed in more than 12 months
• 63 are currently pending

In 2018, 955 requests were received. Of these:
• 661 were executed in less than 3 months
• 64 were executed in 3-6 months
• 14 were executed in 6-12 months
• 6 were executed in more than 12 months
• 210 are currently pending

Civil Procedure Act and Civil Procedure Rules (Part I, Chapter IV, Section 4).

Available at: http://www.law.go.kr/main.html

An English translation is available at: http://elaw.klri.re.kr/

Practical Information:

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Formal service (Art. 5(1)(a))
The documents are served by procedural agents or by any other judicial officers from the territorial competent court.

Informal delivery (Art. 5(2))
By procedural agents. The addressee is informed that he/she can refuse the documents.

See Ghid de cooperare judiciara internationala în materie civila si comerciala (in Romanian only)

To consult bilateral and multilateral treaties to which Romania is a party, see: Guide of Romanian Legislation and Procedures on Judicial Co-operation in Civil and Commercial Matters and in Matters of Family Law.

Council Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (Strasbourg, 13 November 2007) (European Judicial Atlas - Service of Documents)

Cooperare judiciara internationala - Ministry of Justice  

Ghid de cooperare judiciara internationala în materie civila si comerciala (in Romanian only)

Practical Information:
(The following information was provided by the relevant State authorities or was obtained from the reply to to a Questionnaire prepared by the Permanent Bureau in connection with a Seminar on the Service Convention held in Saint Petersburg in 2007)

- Federal courts (the Constitution Court of the Russian Federation; the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation; the supreme courts of Republics, the courts of Krai (Territory) and Oblast (Region), the courts of cities of federal importance (Moscow and St. Petersburg), the courts of Autonomous Oblast and Autonomous Okrug, regional courts, military and specialized courts, which form the system of federal courts of common jurisdiction; The Higher Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, federal arbitration courts of Okrug (arbitration cassation courts), arbitration appellate courts, arbitration courts of the subjects of the Russian Federation, which form the system of federal arbitration courts), constitutional (charter) courts and Justices of the Peace of the subjects of the Russian Federation;
- Federal bodies of executive power and bodies of executive power of the subjects of the Russian Federation;
- The Procurator's Office of the Russian Federation;
- Civilian registry offices;- Notaries and other officials authorised to perform notary functions;
- Guardianship and trusteeship bodies;
- Members of advocacy.

Click here to read all the declarations made by the Russian Federation under the Service Convention.

Legal assistance within the Russian Federation is provided in accordance with the rules of the Code of Civil Procedure and the Code of Arbitration Procedure of the Russian Federation which regulate, respectively, procedural aspects of operation of the general jurisdiction courts and arbitration courts in the Russian Federation. Writs of summons or other notices are delivered by mail or by a person who was instructed by the judge to deliver the same. The time of their service on the addressee is documented by means used for that purpose by postal offices or is specified in a document to be returned to the court. A writ of summons addressed to an individual is served on him/her personally against his/her signature affixed to the summons stub which should be returned to the court. A writ of summons addressed to an entity is served on a respective official who should sign the summons stub to confirm the receipt of the writ of summons. Should the addressee refuse to accept the writ of summons or another court notice, the person delivering or serving the same makes a respective note on the writ of summons or the court notice which is then returned to the court. The addressee who has refused to accept the writ of summons or another court notice is deemed to have been notified of the place, date, and time of a respective court proceeding or another particular proceeding. In practice, requests are executed by means of the court summoning the addressee to hand respective documents over to him/her against his/her signature. The court which has directly considered a request draws up a certificate confirming that the documents have been served or setting out the reasons which have prevented execution of the request. Documents drawn up in connection with execution of the request are sent to the Russian CA to be further sent to the requesting authority.

Russian courts assist the applicants in completing documents as provided for by national procedural laws.

The Russian CA has not received any requests for service using a "particular method".

Pursuant to Article 5(3) of the Convention documents to be served within the territory of the Russian Federation shall only be accepted if they have been written in, or translated into the Russian language.

Click here to read all the declarations made by the Russian Federation under the Service Convention.

The Russian Federation assumes that in accordance with Article 12 of the Convention the service of judicial documents coming from a Contracting State shall not give rise to any payment or reimbursement of taxes or costs for the services rendered by the State addressed. Collection of such costs (with the exception of those provided for by subparagraphs a) and b) of the second paragraph of Article 12) by any Contracting State shall be viewed by the Russian Federation as refusal to uphold the Convention in relation to the Russian Federation, and, consequently, the Russian Federation shall not apply the Convention in relation to this Contracting State.

Click here to read all the declarations made by the Russian Federation under the Service Convention.

Click here to read all the declarations made by the Russian Federation under the Service Convention.

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

Contact details:

Practical Information:

Service with an acknowledgement of receipt:

Service is effected by sending the document by registered mail to the addressee. 

The letter is accompanied by an acknowledgment of receipt, which the addressee is required to sign upon receiving the letter from the postal office.

Service by electronic means may be used by authorities only, should this way of service not be deemed inappropriate with respect to the content of the document to be served or other circumstances. 

Service by a process server: 

Personal service is effected by a process server or other appointed officials e.g. a police officer or bailiff.

Substituted service may be carried out in certain circumstances. The document is then handed to someone other than the addressee, for example an adult member of the addressee's household or his/her employer. 

If there is reason to believe that a person is acting to avoid being served and no other person can be served (substituted service), the document may under certain circumstances be left at the addressee's home.

There are no costs for the service of documents in Sweden.  But if a particular method requested by the applicant creates costs for the Swedish Central Authority, Article 12(2)(b) gives the legal basis to require the applicant to reimburse these costs. This Article, however, is very rarely applied. 

If a payment or reimbursement is required, the amount of the fee corresponds to the cost incurred. The fees are the same for all applicants and do not depend on the requesting State. Also, the fees are not proportional to the value of the litigation.

Practical Information:
(The following information was provided by the relevant State authorities or was obtained from the replies to the 2003, 2008 and/or 2013 Service Convention Questionnaires)

- Les Autorités centrales;
- Les autorités fédérales : le Tribunal fédéral à Lausanne et à Lucerne, le Tribunal administratif fédéral, le Tribunal fédéral des brevets ainsi que l'Institut Fédéral de la Propriété Intellectuelle (IPI);
- Les autorités cantonales : les tribunaux cantonaux supérieurs, les autorités de surveillance en matière de poursuites et de faillites, les tribunaux de district et les offices des poursuites et des faillites.

Selon les cantons où elles se trouvent, ces autorités ont p.ex. les noms suivants: Obergericht, Kantonsgericht, Appellationsgericht, Zivilgericht, Handelsgericht, Versicherungsgericht, Kreisgericht, Bezirksgericht, Amtsgericht, Landgericht, Regionalgericht, Friedensgericht, Vermittlungsamt, Bezirksamt, Regionale Schlichtungsbehörde, Betreibungsamt, Konkursamt, Aufsichtsbehörde in Betreibungs- und Konkurssachen, Kindes- und Erwachsenenschutzbehörden (KESB), Tribunal cantonal, Cour suprême, Tribunal de commerce, Cour de justice, Cour civile, Chambre d'assurance, Tribunal d'arrondissement, Tribunal de district, Tribunal de 1ère instance, Tribunal régional, Autorité régionale de conciliation, Tribunal des baux à loyer (et à ferme), Tribunal des Prud'hommes, Cour des poursuites et faillites, Autorités de protection de l'enfant et de l'adulte (APEA), Office des poursuites et faillites, Camera civile, Camera di esecuzione e fallimenti, Camera cantonale delle assicurazioni, Pretura della giurisdizione di Distretto, Uffici esecuzione e fallimenti, Autorità di protezione dei minori e degli adulti (APMA).

Selon l'article 138 du Code de procédure civile, les citations, les ordonnances et les décisions sont notifiées par envoi recommandé ou d'une autre manière contre accusé de réception. L'acte est réputé notifié lorsqu'il a été remis au destinataire, à un de ses employés ou à une personne de seize ans au moins vivant dans le même ménage. L'ordre donné par le tribunal de notifier l'acte personnellement au destinataire est réservé.

L'envoi par courrier recommandé peut être fait comme « acte judiciaire » (AJ). L'envoi comme AJ est réglé dans les conditions générales de la Poste Suisse et ses brochures d'informations. Le produit AJ de la Poste Suisse sert à l'envoi (à l'intérieur de la Suisse) p.ex. de citations, décisions judiciaires, autres jugements et actes judiciaires. L'accusé de réception est retourné à l'expéditeur après distribution postale de l'AJ. Les AJ peuvent également être envoyés avec la mention « Remise en main propre ».

En pratique, les notifications « d'une autre manière contre accusé de réception » peuvent être exécutées par un huissier, par un agent de police ou par convocation du destinataire pour retirer les actes au greffe du tribunal. S'il ne se présente pas, les services de police peuvent être chargés de procéder à la notification.

En règle générale, les Autorités centrales notifient les actes selon les règles de procédure civile, à savoir de manière formelle, que l'on soit dans le cadre de l'article 5(1) a) ou de l'article 5(2). Lorsque la requête n'est pas accompagnée d'une traduction et que le destinataire refuse d'accepter la notification, l'Autorité centrale ou le Tribunal cantonal compétent en fera mention sur l'attestation et informera l'Etat requérant que la notification doit être effectuée conformément à l'article 5(1) (i.e. formellement au sens de la CLaH65) ; une traduction sera alors exigée (voir la réserve de la Suisse).

For more information on methods of service, see "Guidelines in Civil Matters" (available in French, German, Italian and English).

Liens Internet:

Article 138 du Code de procédure civile
(Swiss Civil Procedure Code, non-official English translation)

Swiss Post, Court Documents

Switzerland declares that in cases where the addressee does not voluntarily accept a document, it cannot officially be served on him or her in accordance with Article 5(1), unless it is in the language of the authority addressed, i.e. in German, French or Italian, or accompanied by a translation into one of these languages, depending on the part of Switzerland in which the document is to be served (the official languages of every canton are mentioned on the list of Cantonal Central Authorities).

Click here to read all the declarations and reservations made by Switzerland under this Convention.

Les frais engendrés par les notifications sont, en règle générale, supportés par les autorités suisses d'exécution.

La notification est effectuée gratuitement chaque fois qu'aucune forme particulière n'est requise (i.e. chaque fois que la notification est effectuée selon la procédure prévue par le Code de procédure civile). Seul l'article 12(2) b) entre ainsi en ligne de compte. Cette disposition n'est invoquée que lorsque l'Etat requérant a émis des souhaits particuliers qui ont donné lieu à des frais.

Les sommes réclamées correspondent aux frais encourus. Aucune distinction n'est faite en fonction de l'Etat d'origine.  

Click here to read all the declarations and reservations made by Switzerland under this Convention.

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

To consult bilateral and multilateral treaties to which Switzerland is a party, see: Recueil systématique du droit fédéral.

See also la Banque de données des traités internationaux.

Lignes directrices – Entraide judiciaire internationale en matière civile – Office fédéral de la justice (Guidelines in Civil Matters) (available in French, German, Italian and English)

Entraide judiciaire internationale en matière civile – Office fédéral de la justice – Domaine de direction Entraide judiciaire internationale

Guide de l’entraide judiciaire – Office fédéral de la justice – Domaine de direction Entraide judiciaire internationale

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