Singapore takes steps toward ratifying Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements

In our previous article, we discussed Singapore's signing of the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements (the Convention) on 25 March 2015 and the likely effect this would have on the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) and Singapore's profile as a regional and global centre for dispute resolution. On 4 April 2016, Singapore tabled the Choice of Court Agreements Bill (the Bill) paving the way for ratification of the Convention.

At the moment the Convention, which aims to uphold jurisdiction clauses and make judgments obtained under those clauses easier to enforce, applies only as between Mexico and the EU member states (other than Denmark). Its ratification by Singapore would add greatly to its significance.

The Bill, which seeks to implement Singapore's obligations under the Convention, will provide increased certainty for parties to cross-border agreements involving entities from States which are parties to the Convention (the Contracting States).  This is primarily achieved in the following two ways: (i) by respecting and enforcing parties' exclusive jurisdiction clauses; and (ii) by increasing the recognition and enforcement of judgments of the courts of Contracting States.

Click here to read more about this development.