Hague Evidence Convention

Hague Evidence Convention

Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters
States parties to the convention by year of ratifications: green: '70, light blue: '80, blue '90, pink '00, red '10
Signed	18 March 1970
Location	The Netherlands
Effective	7 October 1972
Condition	ratification by 3 states[1]
Parties	66
Depositary	Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Netherlands)
Languages	French and English
Full text
Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters at Wikisource

The Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters—more commonly referred to as the Hague Evidence Convention—is a multilateral treaty which was drafted under the auspices of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCPIL). The treaty was negotiated in 1967 and 1968 and signed in The Hague on 18 March 1970. It entered into force in 1972. It allows transmission of letters of request (letters rogatory) from one signatory state (where the evidence is sought) to another signatory state (where the evidence is located) without recourse to consular and diplomatic channels.^[2] Inside the US, obtaining evidence under the Evidence Convention can be compared to comity.^[3]

The Hague Evidence Convention was not the first convention to address the transmission of evidence from one state to another. The 1905 Civil Procedure Convention—also signed in The Hague—contained provisions dealing with the transmission of evidence. However, that earlier convention did not command wide support and was only ratified by 22 countries.