Dr Shouyu Chong addresses core issue in contemporary private international law
Dr Chong and Dr Alan K Koh have submitted a response to the Hague Conference on Private International Law's (HCCH) public consultation.
The consultation is on the draft text of a possible future parallel proceedings convention in cross-border international civil and commercial litigation.
Enhancing legal certainty
It forms part of the HCCH’s ongoing work on the development of international instruments aimed at managing concurrent proceedings across jurisdictions, with a view to enhancing legal certainty and predictability and reducing the risk of duplicative proceedings and inconsistent judgments in cross-border disputes.
Dr Chong and Dr Koh (Nanyang Business School) provided comments on some structural and doctrinal aspects of the draft text that are likely to affect its practical operation: addressing the treatment of non-exclusive choice of court agreements; the internal structure and function of the priority and “more appropriate court” mechanisms; and the use of applicable law as a jurisdictional or connecting factor.
Potential risks
Drawing on comparative perspectives from common law and civil law systems, their report highlights potential risks of circularity and unpredictability where jurisdictional determinations depend on unresolved choice-of-law questions. They also provided suggestions aimed at improving clarity and systemic coherence of the draft instrument.
They were particularly intrigued by the draft Convention’s proposed framework for judicial communication and cooperation in cases of parallel proceedings. While recognising its innovative character, they suggested that the HCCH note the importance of designing these mechanisms in a way that supports effective coordination between courts operating under different procedural traditions and institutional constraints.
Their report will be made available to HCCH members, alongside submissions from other academics, practitioners, judges, and stakeholders participating in the consultation.
They say:
We are grateful to apply our research-led knowledge here, to create meaningful impact on private international law!
The drafters of the future parallel proceedings convention will consider this report, amongst others, in their work. Dr Chong’s involvement with this public consultation demonstrates how his research has real-world impact in shaping the development of future private international law rules.
- Dr Chong is a member of the Centre for Business Law and Practice and can be found on LinkedIn here.
