Declarations

Articles: 2,5,10,15,16,18

(Click here for the Central Authority designated by the United Kingdom and other practical information)

Text of the declarations:

(a) In accordance with the provisions of Articles 2 and 18 of the Convention, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs is designated as the Central Authority; and the Senior Master of the Supreme Court (...), the Scottish Executive Justice Department (...) and the Registrar of the Supreme Court* (...) are designated as additional authorities for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.

* By a note of 10 June 1980 the British Government notified that instead of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Northern Ireland, designated in 1967 as the additional authority for Northern Ireland in conformity with Article 18 of the Convention, the Master (Queen's Bench and Appeals) is designated as the said additional authority. The address of the Master (Queen's Bench and Appeals) is Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast 1.

(b) The authorities competent under Article 6 of the Convention to complete the Certificate of Service are the authorities designated under Articles 2 and 18.

(c) In accordance with the provisions of Article 9 of the Convention, the United Kingdom designates as receivers of process through consular channels the same authorities as those designated under Articles 2 and 18.

(d) With reference to the provisions of paragraphs (b) and (c) of Article 10 of the Convention, documents for service through official channels will be accepted in the United Kingdom only by the central or additional authorities and only from judicial, consular or diplomatic officers of other Contracting States.*

(e) The United Kingdom declares its acceptance of the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 15 of the Convention.

(f) In accordance with the provisions of the third paragraph of Article 16 of the Convention, the United Kingdom declares, in relation to Scotland only, that applications for setting aside judgments on the grounds that the defendant did not have knowledge of the proceedings in sufficient time to defend the action will not be entertained if filed more than one year after the date of judgment.

The authorities designated by the United Kingdom will require all documents forwarded to them for service under the provisions of the Convention to be in duplicate and, pursuant to the third paragraph of Article 5 of the Convention, will require the documents to be written in, or translated into, the English language.

*Extract from a letter dated 11 September 1980 addressed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the Permanent Bureau:
"(...)Thank you for your letter of 31 July in which you ask for assistance in the interpretation of the declaration made by the United Kingdom on 17 November 1967 in relation to Article 10(c) of the Convention.
I am happy to confirm that our declaration does not preclude any person in another Contracting State who is interested in a judicial proceeding (including his lawyer) from effecting service in the United Kingdom "directly" through a competent person other than a judicial officer or official, e.g., a solicitor. (...)"