The Gazette 1996

Serving of judicial documents abroad

courts' practices and procedures. If the requested method of service is so incompatible, the document will be served by personal service. Where service has not been effected, the Master may, on an application from the State Solicitor, make an order for substituted service 8 . Where service cannot be effected, the Master may return the request for service, setting out the reasons why service has not been effected. The Master can refuse to comply with a request for service only if he deems that the request would infringe the sovereignty or security of the State. It is difficult to envisage many refusals on these grounds. The Master cannot refuse service on the basis of want of jurisdiction in the requesting state. A solicitor. A solicitor is also a competent person for effecting service in accordance with the convention. Any person in another contracting state can instruct an Irish solicitor to effect service. Service of the document by the solicitor will accord with the provisions of the convention. convention. If a foreign state allows such service and a party in that state seeks to effect postal service in Ireland, this is permitted by the convention. This is the case even where a similar document could not be legally served by post in Ireland. When a foreign judicial document is served in Ireland, the Master will complete a certificate that the convention has been complied with. The convention sets out a model form certificate. The certificate states that the document has been served and provides the method, place and date of service and the person to whom the document was delivered. Where the document was not served, the certificate is to set out the reasons why. Postal service. Postal service is also a valid means of service under the

by T P Kennedy*

The Hague convention of 15 November 1965 on the Serx'ice Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters' came into force in Ireland on 4 June 1994. This convention was implemented by two statutory instruments which amended the Rules of the Superior Courts 2 and the District Court Rules\ The purpose of the convention is to simplify the serving of judicial documents of one country in another. It sets out procedures to ensure proper service and that proof of service is provided. The convention requires each of the contracting states to appoint a central authority to receive requests for service from other contracting states 4 . In Ireland, the Master of the High Court has been designated to fill this role. In the United Kingdom, the Foreign Secretary and the Senior Master of the Supreme Court fill this role for England, the Crown Agent for Scotland and the Registrar of the Supreme Court for Northern Ireland. The convention applies only in civil and commercial matters. The parties to this convention include all the members of the European Union (except Austria), Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Norway, Turkey, Cyprus, the USA, Canada, Japan, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, Botswana, Malawi and Barbados'. The convention applies to judicial and extrajudicial documents 6 . Order 11(B)(2) applies service under the convention to the service of any summons, notice, document, citation, petition, affidavit, pleading or any form issued pursuant to the Rules of the Superior Courts or lodged for service with a request to the central authority for service under the convention. Scope of the convention

TP Kennedy

Extrajudicial documents are documents that require some form of proper service but are not connected with legal actions. They include notices to quit, protests in relation to bills of exchange, demands for payment and certain adoption consents. Service of foreign judicial documents can be effected in Ireland through the Master of the High Court, by a solicitor or by post. Master of the High Court. In I r e l a n d 's instrument of ratification, the Master of the High Court was designated as the central authority to receive requests for service from other contracting states. In this capacity the Master of the High Court will ensure that the document is properly served. When seeking to effect service using the central authority, it is necessary to lodge with the Master a request in the form set out in the annex to the new rules together with the required proofs 7 . The document to be served should be translated into English or Irish. An undertaking must be given to reimburse the costs of service. The applicant may request a particular method of service. This is to be effected unless the method requested is incompatible with Irish law or the Irish Foreign judicial documents in Ireland