The Governments of the Member States of the
Organization of American States,
CONSIDERING that the administration of justice
in the American States requires their mutual
cooperation for the purpose of ensuring the
extraterritorial validity of judgments and
arbitral awards rendered in their respective
territorial jurisdictions, have agreed as
follows:
Article 1:
This Convention shall apply to judgments and
arbitral awards rendered in civil, commercial
or labor proceedings in one of the States
Parties, unless at the time of ratification it
makes an express reservation to limit the
Convention to compensatory judgments involving
property. In addition, any one of them may
declare, when ratifying the Convention, that
it also applies to rulings that end
proceedings, to the decisions of authorities
that exercise some jurisdictional function and
to judgments in penal proceedings ordering
compensation for damages resulting from an
offense.
The rules of this Convention shall apply to
arbitral awards in all matters not covered by
the Inter-American Convention on International
Commercial Arbitration, signed in Panama on
January 30, 1975.
Article 2:
The foreign judgments, awards and decisions
referred to in Article 1 shall have
extraterritorial validity in the States
Parties if they meet the following conditions:
a) They fulfill all the formal requirements
necessary for them to be deemed authentic in
the State of origin;
b) The judgment, award or decision and the
documents attached thereto that are required
under this Convention are duly translated into
the official language of the State where they
are to take effect;
c) They are presented duly legalized in
accordance with the law of the State in which
they are to take effect;
d) The judge or tribunal rendering the
judgment is competent in the international
sphere to try the matter and to pass judgment
on it in accordance with the law of the State
in which the judgment, award or decision is to
take effect;
e) The
defendant has been
summoned or subpoenaed in due legal form
substantially equivalent to that accepted by
the law of the State where the judgment, award
or decision is to take effect;
f) The parties had an opportunity to
present their defense;
g) They are final or, where appropriate,
have the force of res judicata in the State in
which they were rendered;
h) They are not manifestly contrary to the
principles and laws of the public policy (order
public) of the State in which recognition or
execution is sought.
Article 3:
The documents of proof required to request
execution of judgments, awards and decisions
are as follows:
a) A certified copy of the judgment, award
or decision;
b) A certified copy of the documents proving
that the provisions of items (( and (f) of the
foregoing article have been complied with; and
c) A certified copy of the document stating
that the judgment, award or decision is final
or has the force of res judicata.
Article 4:
If a foreign judgment, award or decision
cannot be executed in its entirety, the judge
or tribunal may agree to its partial execution
at the request of an interested party.
Article 5:
A declaration in forma pauperis recognized in
the State of origin of the judgment shall be
recognized in the State of destination.
Article 6:
The procedures for ensuring the validity of
foreign judgments, awards and decisions,
including the jurisdiction of the respective
judges and tribunals, shall be governed by the
law of the State in which execution is sought.
Article 7:
This Convention shall be open for signature by
the Member States of the Organization of
American States.
Article 8:
This Convention is subject to ratification.
The instruments of ratification shall be
deposited with the General Secretariat of the
Organization of American States.
Article 9:
This Convention shall remain open for
accession by any other State. The instrument
of accession shall be deposited with the
General Secretariat of the Organization of
American States.
Article 10:
Each State may, at the time of signature,
ratification or accession, make reservations
to this Convention, provided that each
reservation concerns one or more specific
provisions and is not incompatible with the
object and purpose of the Convention.
Article 11:
This Convention shall enter into force on the
thirtieth day following the date of deposit of
the second instrument of ratification.
For each State ratifying or acceding to the
Convention after the deposit of the second
instrument of ratification, the Convention
shall enter into force on the thirtieth day
after deposit by such State of its instrument
of ratification or accession.
Article 12:
If a State Party has two or more territorial
units in which different systems of law apply
in relation to the matters dealt with in this
Convention, it may, at the time of signature,
ratification or accession, declare that this
Convention shall extend to all its territorial
units or only to one or more of them.
Such declaration may be modified by subsequent
declarations, which shall expressly indicate
the territorial unit or units to which this
Convention applies. Such subsequent
declarations shall be transmitted to the
General Secretariat of the Organization of
American States and shall become effective
thirty days after the date of their receipt.
Article 13:
This Convention shall remain in force
indefinitely, but any of the States Parties
may denounce it. The instrument of
denunciation shall be deposited with the
General Secretariat of the Organization of
American States. After one year from the date
of deposit of the instrument of denunciation,
the Convention shall no longer be in effect
for the denouncing State, but shall remain in
effect for the other States Parties.
Article 14:
The original instrument of this Convention,
the English, French, Portuguese and Spanish
texts of which are equally authentic, shall be
deposited with the General Secretariat of the
Organization of American States, which will
forward an authenticated copy of its text to
the Secretariat of the United Nations for
registration and publication in accordance
with Article 102 of its Charter. The General
Secretariat of the Organization of American
States shall notify the Member States of that
Organization and the States that have acceded
to the Convention of the signatures, deposits
of instruments of ratification, accession and
denunciation as well as of reservations, if
any. It shall also transmit the declarations
referred to in Article 12 of this Convention.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF
the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, being duly
authorized thereto by their respective
Governments, have signed this Convention.
DONE AT MONTEVIDEO,
Republic of Uruguay, this eighth day of May,
one thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine.