Transnational Commercial Litigation. Discussing the 2020 Model Rules and the 2019 Hague and 2018 Singapore Conventions

Businesses involved in cross-border litigation face two hurdles. The first concerns venue selection. Divergences between procedural systems, concerning the powers and duties of the court and the parties, the latitude of res judicata, etc. are substantial even amongst neighboring countries. The ELI-Unidroit committee of experts discarded the option of drafting a “restatement” of common European civil procedure principles and put great efforts in devising a set of “best practices”, i.e. model rules, addressed to national lawmakers. The second hurdle is faced by the winning party seeking to enforce judgment outside the state of the forum. As regional organizations are losing momentum (Brexit), the 2019 Hague Convention of the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgment and the 2018 Singapore Convention on settlement agreements might be an appealing way of keeping the grounds of refusal of recognition at a minimum shared number. The Hague Convention has been already signed by Uruguay and Ukraine, and, lately, by the EU. Is a future signature by the UK likely? Part I of this Article focuses on how classical tenets of civil procedure law are addressed by the Model Rules. Part II of this Article assesses strengths and weaknesses of the new Conventions and makes tentative forecast.