The Lugano Convention was signed on 16 September 1988. It concerns jurisdiction and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters. Its role is parallel to the 1968 Brussels Convention.

Switzerland is a party to this convention, which entered into force in January 1992.

In 2007, the new version of the Convention was signed, succeeding the 1988 Convention: it is commonly referred to as the "Revised Lugano Convention". The Convention is concluded between the EU and other third countries including Switzerland. One of the main novelties is its application to all EU Member States, with the possibility for third countries to join, according to Articles 70 and 72 of the Convention.

The Convention applies to civil and commercial matters, which excludes customs, fiscal and administrative matters, according to its first article.

Primarily, the Convention makes it possible to settle conflict-of-law issues in a case where there is a foreign connection. This means that when the dispute has an international dimension it determines, on the one hand, the competent Tribunal (forum) to decide on the dispute and on the other hand it settles the rules for the applicable law.

The purpose of this convention is to determine the fora. Secondly, to deal with the recognition and enforcement on a member State of decisions given by another State. Article 33(1) of the Convention provides for automatic recognition of decisions between the contracting countries, which means that a recognition (exequatur) procedure is not necessary.

However, a foreign decision may not always enjoy recognition if, for example, it is contrary to public policy, according to Convention's article 34.

As regards the enforcement of a foreign judgment, it is enforceable in a member State of the Convention after the application for enforcement as set out in Article 39. It should be remembered that an enforcement procedure is a procedure by which the beneficiary of a foreign judgment can have it enforced in another territory.

This convention is particularly relevant for countries that are not members of the European Union, such as Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, because it allows for continuity of justice through the recognition of judgments. As for the Member States, they benefit from the European recognition set up by the law of the Union and in particular by Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012.

Currently, there is an issue with the recent Brexit. Indeed, since 2020, the United Kingdom has been in a situation of transition between European rules and non-European, purely international law. On 8 April 2020, the UK applied to join the Lugano Convention, in which case the contracting parties (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, EU) must express their agreement. This possible accession would allow the UK to maintain continuity in the application of decisions across the European Union.

Our firm has studied and worked extensively on the issue of the Lugano Convention, and we can respond to any queries you may have on the subject.