In civil or commercial matters, the meanings of acts intended for persons abroad shall be made, in the Contracting States, upon the request of the consul of the requesting State addressed to the authority designated by the State Required. The request containing an indication of the authority of the act transmitted, the name and the quality of the parties, the address of the addressee, the nature of the act in question, must be in the language of the requested authority. This authority will send the consul the piece proving the meaning or indicating the fact that prevented it.

Any difficulties that would arise during the Consul's request would be resolved through diplomatic channels.

Each Contracting State may declare, by means of a communication addressed to the other Contracting States, that it hears that the request for service to be effected on its territory, containing the particulars indicated in 1 ^Er Paragraph, be addressed through diplomatic channels.

The foregoing provisions do not preclude two Contracting States from agreeing to direct communication between their respective authorities.

Service shall be effected by the care of the competent authority in accordance with the laws of the requested State. This authority, other than the cases provided for in s. 3, may confine itself to making the service by giving the act to the addressee who voluntarily accepts it.

The application shall be accompanied by the act to be served in duplicate.

If the act to be served is drafted, either in the language of the requested authority or in the language agreed between the two States concerned, or if it is accompanied by a translation into one of those languages, the required authority, in case the desire for it is Be expressed in the application shall mean the act in the form prescribed by its domestic law for the performance of similar meanings, or in a special form, provided that it is not contrary to that legislation. If such a desire is not expressed, the required authority will first seek to make the remission under s. 2.

Unless otherwise agreed, the translation, provided for in the preceding paragraph, shall be certified by the diplomatic or consular agent of the requesting State or by a sworn translator of the requested State.

The execution of the meaning provided for by Art. 1, 2 and 3 may be refused only if the State, in the territory of which it is to be made, is liable to impair its sovereignty or security.

Proof of service shall be effected by means of either a dated and legalised receipt of the addressee, or an attestation of the authority of the requested State, stating the fact, the form and the date of service.

The receipt or certification must be on one of the duplicates of the act to be served or attached to it.

The provisions of the foregoing Articles do not preclude:

1.

The ability to direct acts directly through the mail to interested parties outside Canada;

2.

The ability of those concerned to have direct meanings in the care of ministerial officers or competent officials of the country of destination;

3.

The right of each State to have direct, through the care of its diplomatic or consular agents, the meanings intended for persons abroad.

In each of these cases, the planned faculty exists only if agreements between the States concerned admit it or if, in the absence of a convention, the State in whose territory the service is to be served is not opposed to it. This State will not be able to oppose it where, in the case of para. 1, n ^O 3, the act must be served without constraint to a national of the requesting State.

Meanings shall not give rise to the refund of any fees or charges of any kind.

However, unless otherwise agreed, the requested State shall have the right to require the requesting State to reimburse the costs incurred by the intervention of a ministerial officer or by the use of a special form in the case of art. 3.

In civil or commercial matters, the judicial authority of a Contracting State may, in accordance with the provisions of its legislation, address by rogatory to the competent authority of another Contracting State to request that it do so, in Its jurisdiction, either an act of instruction or other judicial acts.

Letters rogatory will be transmitted by the consul of the requesting State to the authority which will be designated by the requested State. This authority will send to the consul the play recording the execution of the letters rogatory or indicating the fact that prevented it from being carried out.

Any difficulties that arise during this transmission will be resolved through diplomatic channels.

Each Contracting State may declare, by means of a communication addressed to the other Contracting States, that it intends that the letters rogatory to be carried out on its territory shall be transmitted to it by diplomatic means.

The foregoing provisions do not preclude two Contracting States from agreeing to the direct transmission of letters rogatory between their respective authorities.

Unless otherwise agreed, the letters rogatory must be drafted, either in the language of the requested authority or in the language agreed between the two States concerned, or it must be accompanied by a translation in one of those languages Certified by a diplomatic or consular agent of the requesting State or by a sworn translator of the requested State.

The judicial authority to which the letters rogatory is addressed will be obliged to comply with it by using the same means of restraint as for the execution of a commission of the authorities of the requested State or of a request made to that effect by a Interested party. These means of restraint are not necessarily used in the case of the appearance of the parties involved.

The requesting authority shall, if requested, be informed of the date and place where the requested measure will be taken, in order for the interested party to be present.

The execution of the letters rogatory may be refused only:

1.

The authenticity of the document is not established;

2.

If, in the requested State, the execution of the letters rogatory does not fall within the powers of the judiciary;

3.

If the State in whose territory the execution should take place the judge liable to impair its sovereignty or security.

In the event of the incompetence of the required authority, the letters rogatory shall be sent ex officio to the competent judicial authority of the same State, in accordance with the rules laid down by the law of that State.

In all cases where the letters rogatory are not executed by the requested authority, the requesting authority shall immediately inform the requesting authority, indicating, in the case of Art. 11, the reasons why the execution of the letters rogatory was refused and, in the case of art. 12, the authority to which the committee is transmitted.

The judicial authority carrying out the execution of a rogatory commission shall apply the laws of its country with regard to the forms to be followed.

However, it will be remitted at the request of the requesting authority for a special form to be carried out, provided that such form is not contrary to the law of the requested State.

The provisions of the foregoing Articles shall not preclude the possibility for each State to have its diplomatic or consular agents executed directly by the letters rogatory if agreements entered into between the States concerned Admit or if the State in whose territory the rogatory commission is to be executed is not opposed to it.

The execution of letters rogatory shall not give rise to the reimbursement of any fees or charges of any kind.

However, unless otherwise agreed, the requested State shall have the right to require the requesting State to reimburse the allowances paid to witnesses or experts, as well as the costs incurred by the intervention of a ministerial officer, made necessary Because the witnesses did not appear voluntarily, or as a result of the potential application of s. 14, para. 2.

No surety or deposit, under any name, may be imposed, either on the basis of their status as aliens, or from the absence of domicile or residence in the country, to nationals of one of the Contracting States, having their domicile in One of these states, who will be applicants or interveners in the courts of another of these states.

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

The agreements by which Contracting States have stipulated for their nationals the waiver of the surety or the payment of legal fees without a condition of residence will continue to apply.

Convictions of the costs and costs of the trial, handed down in one of the Contracting States against the applicant or intervenor of the guarantor, the deposit or the payment under s. 17, para. 1 and 2, either of the law of the State in which the action is brought, shall, on a request made by the diplomatic channel, be made freely enforceable by the competent authority in each of the other Contracting States.

The same rule applies to judicial decisions by which the amount of the costs of the trial is fixed at a later date.

The foregoing provisions do not preclude two Contracting States to agree that the application for enforcement must also be made directly by the interested party.

Decisions on costs and costs shall be declared enforceable without the hearing of the parties, but unless the convicted party has a subsequent appeal, in accordance with the law of the country in which enforcement is continued.

The authority, competent to rule on the application for exequatur, shall confine itself to examining:

1.

If, according to the law of the country in which the conviction was pronounced, the shipment of the decision satisfies the conditions necessary for its authenticity;

2.

If, according to the same law, the decision has become res judic;

3.

If the operative part of the decision is drafted, either in the language of the requested authority or in the language agreed between the two States concerned, or if accompanied by a translation, made in one of those languages and, unless otherwise agreed, Certified by a diplomatic or consular agent of the requesting State or by a sworn translator of the requested State.

To meet the conditions prescribed by para. 2, Nos 1 and 2, shall suffice, either from a declaration by the competent authority of the requesting State finding that the decision has passed by force of res judiced or from the presentation of duly legalised documents to establish that the decision is In force of res judicas. The authority of the above mentioned authority will be, unless otherwise agreed ¹ , certified by the highest civil servant in the administration of justice in the requesting State. The statement and certificate referred to must be prepared or translated in accordance with the rule in para. 2, n ^O 3.

The competent authority to rule on the application for exequatur shall assess, provided that the part of the application at the same time, the amount of the costs of certification, translation and legalisation referred to in para. 2, No. 3. These costs will be considered as costs and costs of the trial.

In civil and commercial matters, nationals of each Contracting State shall be admitted to all other Contracting States for the benefit of free legal assistance, as the nationals themselves, by complying with the law of The State where free legal assistance is claimed.

In those States where judicial assistance is available in administrative matters, the provisions laid down in the preceding paragraph shall also apply to cases brought before the competent courts in this matter.

In all cases, the certificate or declaration of indigence must be issued or received by the authorities of the habitual residence of the alien, or, failing that, by the authorities of his or her current residence. In the event that the latter authorities do not belong to a Contracting State and would not receive or issue certificates or declarations of that nature, a certificate or declaration, issued or received by a Diplomatic or consular officer of the country to which the alien belongs.

If the applicant does not reside in the country where the application is made, the certificate or declaration of indigence will be legalized free of charge by a diplomatic or consular officer of the country where the document is to be produced.

The competent authority for issuing the certificate or receiving the declaration of indigence may take information on the capital situation of the applicant with the authorities of the other Contracting States.

The authority responsible for ruling on the request for free legal assistance shall retain, within the limits of its powers, the right to control the certificates, declarations and information provided to it and to be given, in order to clarify Sufficient information.

Where indigent is in a country other than that in which free legal assistance is to be sought, its request for legal assistance, accompanied by certificates, declarations of indigence and, where applicable, Other supporting documents relevant to the processing of the application may be transmitted, by the consul of his country, to the competent authority to decide on the said application or to the authority designated by the State in which the application is to be heard.

The provisions contained in s. 9, para. 2, 3 and 4, and in art. 10 and 12 above concerning letters rogatory, are applicable to the transmission of requests for free legal aid and their annexes.

If the benefit of legal assistance has been granted to a national of one of the Contracting States, the meanings, in any form, relating to his trial, and which would be to be done in another of those States, shall not give rise to any Reimbursement of costs by the requesting State to the requested State.

The same will apply to letters rogatory, with the exception of allowances paid to experts.

The indigent nationals of one of the Contracting States may, under the same conditions as nationals, obtain free extracts from the acts of the civil status. The documents necessary for their marriage shall be legalised without charge by the diplomatic or consular agents of the Contracting States.

The constraint per body, either as a means of enforcement or as a merely precautionary measure, may not be applied in civil or commercial matters to foreigners belonging to one of the Contracting States, in cases where it is not Applicable to nationals of the country. A fact which may be invoked by a national domiciled in the country, in order to obtain the lifting of the constraint by body, must produce the same effect for the benefit of the national of a Contracting State, even if that fact occurred abroad.

This Convention shall be open for signature by States represented at the seventh session of the Conference on Private International Law.

It will be ratified and instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

Any deposit of instruments of ratification shall be recorded, and a certified copy shall be furnished by diplomatic means to each of the signatory States.

This Convention shall enter into force on the sixtieth day from the deposit of the fourth instrument of ratification provided for in Art. 27, para. 2.

For each signatory State ratifying subsequently, the Convention shall enter into force on the sixtieth day from the date of the deposit of its instrument of ratification.

This Convention shall replace, in the relations between the States which have ratified it, the Convention on Civil Procedure, signed at The Hague on 17 July 1905 .

This Convention shall apply as of right to the metropolitan territories of the Contracting States.

If a Contracting State wishes to bring it into force in all other territories or in such other territories whose international relations are insured by it, it shall notify its intention to that effect by means of an act which shall be deposited with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The latter shall send, through diplomatic channels, a certified copy to each of the Contracting States.

The Convention shall enter into force in the relations between the States which have no objection within six months of that communication, and the territory or territories whose international relations are provided by the State in question, and For which the notification has been made.

Any State, not represented at the seventh session of the Conference, shall be admitted to accede to this Convention, unless a State or several States which have ratified the Convention oppose it, within six months from the date of the communication made By the Dutch Government, of this accession. Accession shall be made in the manner provided for in Art. 27, para. 2.

It is understood that adhesions may not take place until after the coming into force of this Agreement, pursuant to s. 28, para. 1.

Each Contracting State, by signing or ratifying or acceding to this Convention, may reserve the right to limit the application of s. 17 to nationals of Contracting States having their habitual residence on its territory.

The State which has made use of the faculty provided for in the preceding paragraph shall not be entitled to the application of Art. 17 by the other Contracting States only to the benefit of its nationals having their habitual residence in the territory of the Contracting State before the courts of which they are applicants or interveners.

This Agreement shall be for a period of five years from the date specified in Art. 28, para. 1, of this Agreement.

This term will begin on that date, even for those States which have ratified or acceded to it subsequently.

The convention will be renewed tacitly five years in five years, except denunciation. The denunciation shall, at least six months before the expiry of the term, be notified to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, which shall give notice to all the other Contracting States.

Denunciation may be limited to the territories or to some of the territories indicated in a notification made in accordance with Art. 30, para. 2.

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.

In witness whereof , the undersigned, duly authorized by their respective Governments, have signed this Convention.

Done at The Hague, on 1 March 1954, in a single copy, which shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the Netherlands and of which a certified copy shall be furnished, by diplomatic means, to each of the States represented at the seventh session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

(Suivent signatures)