Die Haager Konferenz für Internationales Privatrecht zehn Jahre nach der Vergemeinschaftung der Gesetzgebungskompetenz in der justiziellen Zusammenarbeit in Zivilsachen – mit einem Rückblick auf die Verhandlungen zum Haager Gerichtsstandsübereinko

The Hague Conference for Private International Law: Ten Years of EC Competence in Regards to Judicial Cooperation in Civil Matters For a long time the Hague Conference for Private International Law has been a European organisation and a monopolist in harmonising Private International Law. When the Amsterdam Treaty came into force in 1999 there was a fundamental change as the European Community became competent in the area of civil cooperation in civil and commercial matters. Hence two organisations have been dealing with the harmonisation of Private International Law since. When the Amsterdam Treaty came into force, the Hague Conference was in course of negotiating a Convention on Jurisdiction, Enforcement and Recognition of Judgements in Civil and Commercial Matters. After long discussions the Conference then concluded the Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements (Choice of Court Convention). The introductory remarks provide an overview on the impacts that the transfer of competences by the Amsterdam Treaty has had on the negotiations of the Choice of Court Convention. The article explains how the Hague Conference reacted to the Amsterdam Treaty's transfer of competences to the EC. The main part of the article is devoted to the question whether and in how far a coexistence of legal instruments from The Hague and from Brussels dealing with the same topic is possible. In that respect the article explores different techniques to disconnect legal instruments from Brussels and from The Hague dealing with the same topic. It is argued that different solutions for different legal issues are necessary (e.g. grounds of jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement, conflict-of-law rules). The author concludes that there are many possibilities for the coexistence of legal instruments from Brussels and from The Hague. Despite the considerable impacts of the distribution of the new competences the Hague Conference has every reason for an optimistic outlook for the future.