Nationals of a Contracting State, as well as persons having their habitual residence in a Contracting State, shall be admitted for the benefit of legal aid in civil and commercial matters in each Contracting State in the same Conditions that if they were themselves nationals of that State and were habitually resident there.

Persons to whom the provisions of the preceding paragraph do not apply, but who have had their habitual residence in a Contracting State in which a judicial proceeding is or will be engaged, shall nevertheless be admitted for the benefit of Legal aid under the conditions laid down in the preceding paragraph, if the cause of the action arises from that former habitual residence.

In those States where legal assistance exists in administrative, social or fiscal matters, the provisions of this Article shall apply to cases brought before the competent courts in those matters.

Art. 1 applies to legal consultation, provided that the applicant is present in the State in which the consultation is requested.

Each Contracting State shall designate a Central Authority to receive and respond to requests for legal assistance submitted to it in accordance with this Convention.

Federal States and States in which several systems of law are in force have the right to designate several Central Authorities. In the case of incompetence of the Central Authority seized, the latter shall forward the request to the competent Central Authority of the same Contracting State.

Each Contracting State shall designate one or more dispatching authorities responsible for the transmission of requests for legal assistance to the competent Central Authority in the requested State.

Requests for legal assistance shall be transmitted, without intervention of any other authority, using the model formula annexed to this Convention.

Each Contracting State shall have the right to use diplomatic channels for the same purposes.

Where it is not present in the requested State, the applicant for legal assistance may, without prejudice to any other way by which he may submit his application to the competent authority of that State, submit his application to an authority Debtor of the Contracting State in which he has his habitual residence.

The application shall be drawn up in accordance with the model formula annexed to this Convention. It shall be accompanied by all necessary documents, subject to the right of the requested State to request additional information or documents in appropriate cases.

Each Contracting State shall have the right to make known that its receiving Central Authority may be seized by any other means or means.

The sending authority shall assist the applicant in order to attach all documents and information which, to the knowledge of that authority, are necessary for the assessment of the application. It checks their formal regularity.

It may refuse to transmit the application in the event that it is manifestly ill-founded.

Where appropriate, it shall assist the applicant for a translation without charge of the documents.

It responds to requests for further information from the receiving Central Authority of the requested State.

Requests for legal assistance, supporting documents, as well as communications in response to requests for further information, must be in the language or in one of the official languages of the requested State or Accompanied by a translation in one of those languages.

However, where in the requesting State obtaining a translation into the language of the requested State is difficult to achieve, the latter must accept that those documents be written in English or French or accompanied by a translation In one of these languages.

Communications from the receiving Central Authority may be written in the language or in one of the official languages of that State, in English or French. However, where the application transmitted by the sending authority is in English or in English or accompanied by a translation into one of those languages, communications from the receiving Central Authority are also written in One of these languages.

The costs of translations resulting from the application of the preceding paragraphs shall remain the responsibility of the requesting State. However, translations, if any, by the requested State shall remain at its expense.

The receiving Central Authority shall decide on the request for legal assistance or take the necessary measures to ensure that it is decided on it by the competent authority of the requested State.

It shall forward requests for further information to the sending authority and shall inform it of any difficulties relating to the examination of the application, as well as the decision taken.

Where the applicant does not reside in a Contracting State, the applicant for legal assistance may, without prejudice to any other way by which he may submit his application to the competent authority of the requested State, submit his application by way of means Consular.

Each Contracting State shall have the right to make known that its receiving Central Authority may be seized by any other means or means.

Documents transmitted under this Chapter shall be exempt from legalization and any similar formality.

The intervention of the competent authorities to transmit, receive or adjudicate applications for legal assistance under this Chapter is free of charge.

The investigation of requests for legal assistance is made as a matter of urgency.

Where legal assistance has been granted under Article 1, notifications and meanings, in any form, relating to the trial of the beneficiary and which would be to be done in another Contracting State, cannot Give rise to no refund. The same applies to letters rogatory and social surveys, with the exception of allowances paid to experts and interpreters.

Where a person has been admitted, pursuant to Article 1, to the benefit of legal aid in a Contracting State in the course of a proceeding which gave rise to a decision, the person shall, without further examination, benefit from the assistance In any other Contracting State in which it seeks recognition or enforcement of that decision.

No surety or deposit, under any name, may be required because of their only foreign qualification or lack of residence or residence in the State in which the action is brought, persons, natural persons, or Legal entities, having their habitual residence in one of the Contracting States which will be applicants or interveners before the courts of another Contracting State.

The same rule applies to the payment that would be required of applicants or intervenors to ensure legal costs.

Convictions of the costs and costs of the trial, handed down in one of the Contracting States against any person exempt from the security, deposit or payment under s. 14, or of the law of the State in which the action is brought, shall, at the request of the creditor, be made freely enforceable in any other Contracting State.

Each Contracting State shall designate one or more expo authorities responsible for transmitting applications for exequatur referred to in Art. 15 to the competent Central Authority in the requested State.

Each Contracting State shall designate a Central Authority to receive requests and take appropriate measures to ensure that a final decision is taken in that regard.

Federal States and States in which several systems of law are in force have the right to designate several Central Authorities. If the Central Authority is incompetent, it shall forward the request to the competent central authority in the requested State.

Applications are forwarded without intervention by any other authority. However, each Contracting State may use diplomatic channels for the same purposes.

Unless the requested State has declared that it is opposed, the foregoing provisions do not preclude the application for exequatur from being presented directly by the creditor.

Applications for enforcement must be accompanied by:

A.

A compliant shipment of the part of the decision showing the names and qualifications of the parties, as well as the device relating to the costs and costs;

B.

Any document capable of proving that the decision can no longer be the subject of an ordinary appeal in the State of origin and that it is enforceable;

C.

A certified translation of these documents into the language of the requested State, when they are not written in that language.

The competent authority of the requested State shall decide on applications for enforcement without hearing the parties. It merely verifies that the parts have been produced. At the request of the applicant, it evaluates the amount of the costs of certification, translation and certification, which are equated with the costs and costs of the trial. No legalization or similar formality can be imposed.

The parties have no other recourse against the decision of the competent authority than those opened to them by the law of the requested State.

In civil or commercial matters, nationals of a Contracting State, as well as persons having their habitual residence in a Contracting State, may, under the same conditions as nationals, be issued and, where appropriate, To legalise copies or extracts from public registers or court decisions in another Contracting State.

Restraint by body, either as a means of enforcement or as a merely protective measure, may not be applied in civil or commercial matters to nationals of a Contracting State or to persons having their habitual residence In a Contracting State in the event that it is not applicable to nationals of that State. Any fact which may be relied on by a national who has his habitual residence in that State to obtain the lifting of the constraint by body must produce the same effect for the benefit of a national of a Contracting State or of a person who has His habitual residence in a Contracting State, even if that fact happened abroad.

Where a witness or an expert, a national of a Contracting State or having his habitual residence in a Contracting State, is named by name by a court or by a party with the authorization of a court to appear before the courts of a Other Contracting State, it cannot be prosecuted, detained or subject to any restriction of its individual liberty in the territory of that State for convictions or facts prior to its entry into the territory of the requesting State.

The immunity provided for in the preceding paragraph shall begin seven days before the date fixed for the hearing of the witness or expert and shall end when the witness or expert, having had the opportunity to leave the territory for seven consecutive days after The judicial authorities have informed him that his presence is no longer required, will nevertheless remain in that territory or will have returned voluntarily after leaving it.

Subject to the provisions of Art. 22, nothing in this Convention shall be construed as limiting the rights in respect of matters settled by that Convention which could be recognized to a person in accordance with the laws of a Contracting State or in accordance with any Other convention to which that State is or will be a party.

This Convention shall replace, in the relations between the States which have ratified it, art. 17 to 24 of the Convention on Civil Procedure, signed at The Hague on 17 July 1905 ¹ , or s. 17 to 26 of the Convention on Civil Procedure , Signed at The Hague on 1 ^Er March 1954 ² , for States which are Parties to either of these Conventions, even if the reservation of the second paragraph of Art. 28, let. C, is made.

The additional agreements to the Conventions of 1905 and 1954, concluded by the Contracting States, shall be regarded as equally applicable to this Convention, insofar as they are compatible with this Convention, unless the States concerned Otherwise agree.

Any Contracting State may, by means of a declaration, make known the language (s) other than those provided for in s. 7 and 17 in which documents to be sent to the Central Authority may be drawn up or translated.

Any Contracting State which has several official languages and which cannot, for reasons of domestic law, accept for the whole of its territory the documents referred to in Art. 7 and 17 of legal aid in one of these languages, must make known by means of a declaration the language in which they are to be written or translated for presentation in the parts of its territory which it has determined.

A Contracting State which comprises two or more territorial units in which different systems of law apply to the matters governed by that Convention may, at the time of signature, ratification, acceptance, Approval or accession, declare that this Convention shall apply to all its territorial units or only to one or more of them, and may, at any time, amend this declaration by making a new declaration.

These declarations shall be notified to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and shall state expressly the territorial units to which the Convention applies.

Where a Contracting State has a system of government under which the executive, judicial and legislative powers are shared between the Central Authorities and other authorities of that State, the signature, ratification, acceptance or The approval of, or accession to, the Convention, or a declaration made under s. 26, will not take any consequences on the internal division of powers in that State.

Any Contracting State may, at the time of signature, ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, reserve the right to exclude the application of Article 1 to persons who are not nationals of a State Contracting State, but who have their habitual residence in a Contracting State other than that which has made the reservation or who have had their habitual residence in the State which has made the reservation, if there is no reciprocity between the State which has made the reservation Reserve and the State of which the applicant for legal assistance is the national.

Any Contracting State may, at the time of signature, ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, reserve the right to exclude:

A.

The use of English, French, or both languages, as provided for in para. 2 of the art. 7;

B.

The application of the provisions of para. 2 of the art. 13;

C.

The implementation of the provisions of the chap. II;

D.

The application of s. 20.

When a State:

E.

Have excluded the use of the English and French languages by making the reservation provided for in the let. Under the preceding paragraph, any other State affected by it may apply the same rule in respect of the State which has made the reservation;

F.

Has made the reservation provided for in the let. B of the preceding paragraph, any other State may refuse to apply para. 2 of the art. 13 to nationals of the State who have made the reservation, as well as to persons who have their habitual residence in that State;

G.

Has made the reservation provided for in the let. C of the preceding paragraph, any other State may refuse to apply the provisions of the chap. II to nationals of the State who have made the reservation, as well as to persons who have their habitual residence in that State.

No other reserves will be permitted.

Any Contracting State may, at any time, withdraw a reservation it has made. The withdrawal will be notified to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The effect of the reservation shall cease on the first day of the third month of the calendar after that notification.

Any Contracting State shall indicate to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, either at the time of deposit of its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, or at a later stage, the authorities provided for in Art. 3, 4 and 16.

It shall notify, where appropriate, under the same conditions:

A.

The declarations referred to in Art. 5, 9, 16, 24, 25, 26 and 33;

B.

Any withdrawals and changes to the designations and declarations mentioned above;

C.

Withdrawal of all reservations.

The model formulae annexed to this Convention may be amended by decision of a Special Commission to which all Contracting States and all Member States of the Hague Conference will be invited and which shall be convened by the Secretary-General of the Hague Conference. The proposal to amend the formulas should be included in the agenda which will be attached to the invitation.

The amendments shall be adopted by the Special Commission by a majority of the Contracting States present and taking part in the vote. They shall enter into force for all Contracting States on the first day of the seventh month after the date on which the Secretary-General has communicated them to all Contracting States.

During the period referred to in the preceding paragraph, any Contracting State may notify the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in writing that it intends to make a reservation to that amendment. The State which has made such reservation shall be treated, in respect of that amendment, as if it were not a Party to this Convention until the reservation has been withdrawn.

The Convention is open for signature by States that were Members of the Hague Conference on Private International Law at its Fourteenth Session, as well as non-Member States invited to its elaboration.

It shall be ratified, accepted or approved and instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Any other State may accede to the Convention.

The instrument of accession shall be deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Accession shall have effect only in relations between the acceding State and the Contracting States which have no objection to it within twelve months of the receipt of the notification provided for in the c. 2 of the art. 36. Such an objection may also be raised by any Member State at the time of ratification, acceptance or approval of the Convention, subsequent to accession. These objections will be notified to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Any State, at the time of signature, ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, may declare that the Convention shall extend to all the territories it represents on the international level or to one or more Of them. This declaration will have effect when it enters into force for that State.

This declaration, together with any subsequent extension, will be notified to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Convention shall enter into force on the first day of the third calendar month after the deposit of the third instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession provided for in Art. 31 and 32.

Thereafter, the Convention will enter into force:

1.

For each State ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding after the first day of the third calendar month after the deposit of its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession;

2.

For the territories or territorial units to which the Convention has been extended in accordance with Art. 26 or 33, on the first day of the third calendar month after the notification referred to in those articles.

The Convention shall have a term of five years from the date of its entry into force in accordance with Art. 34, para. 1, even for those States which have subsequently ratified, accepted or approved or acceded to it.

The Convention will be renewed tacitly five years in five years, except denunciation.

The denunciation shall be notified to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands at least six months before the expiry of the five-year period. It may be limited to certain territories or territorial units to which the Convention applies.

The denunciation shall have effect only in respect of the State which has notified it. The Convention shall remain in force for the other Contracting States.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands shall notify the States Members of the Conference, as well as States which have acceded in accordance with the provisions of Art. 32:

1.

Signatures, ratifications, acceptances and approvals referred to in s. 31;

2.

Memberships and objections to adhesions referred to in s. 32;

3.

The date on which the Convention enters into force in accordance with the provisions of Art. 34;

4.

The declarations referred to in s. 26 and 33;

5.

Reserves and the withdrawal of reserves under art. 28 and 30;

6.

Communications notified pursuant to Art. 29;

7.

Disclosures referred to in s. 35.

In witness whereof, The undersigned, duly authorized, have signed this Convention.

Done at The Hague, on October 25, 1980, in English and French, the two texts being equally authentic, in a single copy, which shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and of which a certified copy will be furnished, by the Diplomatic channel, to each of the States Members of the Hague Conference on Private International Law at its Fourteenth Session, as well as to any other State which participated in the elaboration of this Convention at that Session.

(Suivent signatures)