CIDIP: This Convention was adopted at the Second Inter-American Specialized Conference on Private International Law (CIDIP-II), held in Montevideo, Uruguay - May 1979.  

Ratifications: To date, the following countries have ratified this Convention: [click here] 

Objective: This Convention establishes a framework for mutual cooperation to ensure extraterritorial validity of judgments and arbitral awards.   

Summary: This Convention applies to judgments and arbitral awards rendered in civil, labor or commercial proceedings to which the Inter-American Convention on International Commercial Arbitration does not apply. This convention establishes that foreign judgments and awards shall have extraterritorial validity if the following conditions are met: 1) the judgment or award must comply with the legal requirements of the State of origin; 2) the judgment, award or decision and the documents attached thereto, must be translated into the official language of the State  of enforcement; 3) documents presented must be duly legalized in accordance with the law of the State in which they are to take effect; 4) the judge or tribunal rendering the judgment must be competent in the international sphere to try the matter and to pass judgment thereon; 5) the plaintiff must be summoned or subpoenaed in due legal form substantially equivalent to that accepted by the law of the State in which the judgment, award or decision is to take effect; 6) the parties must be provided the opportunity to present their case; 7) the judgment or award must be final or, where appropriate, binding effect (res iudicata) in the State in which they were rendered; and 8) enforcement must not be manifestly contrary to the principles and laws of public policy of the State of enforcement.  

The Convention requires a formal request for execution of a judgment, award or decision, which must be accompanied by the following documents: 1) a certified copy of the judgment, award or decision; 2) a certified copy of the documents proving that due process was provided;  and 3) a certified copy of the document stating that the judgment, award or decision is final or has biding effect (res judicata).  

Procedures to ensure validity will be regulated by the law of the State of enforcement and the judge or tribunal may agree, if it cannot be executed in its entirety, to partial execution of a foreign judgment, award or decision, when requested by an interested party.