1 720 U.N.T.S. 147, 9 I.L.M. 477 (1970), European Treaty Series No. 62.Google Scholar

2 Council of Europe, Explanatory Report on the European Convention on Information on Foreign Law [hereafter: Report] 5 (Strasbourg, 1968). References to articles will refer to the Report, unless specified otherwise.Google Scholar

3 Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Information on Foreign Law done at Strasbourg, March 15, 1978, European Treaty Series No. 97, 27 I.L.M. 797 (1978).Google Scholar

4 Art. 2, at note 20.Google Scholar

5 Art. 3.Google Scholar

6 Art. 18.Google Scholar

7 Ratifying countries of the Convention are: Austria, Belgium, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.Google Scholar

8 Supra note 3, footnote 8.Google Scholar

9 Art. 1, sec. 1.Google Scholar

10 Art. 1, sec. 2.Google Scholar

11 Report, note 7.Google Scholar

12 Id., note 8.Google Scholar

13 Art. 2, sec. 1.Google Scholar

14 Art 2, sec. 2.Google Scholar

15 Report, note 13.Google Scholar

16 Art. 3, sec. 2.Google Scholar

17 Art. 4(4) and Report, note 17.Google Scholar

18 Report, notes 18, 19, 20.Google Scholar

19 Art. 3, sec. 2.Google Scholar

20 Art. 4, secs. 1, 2.Google Scholar

21 Art. 1, sec. 1.Google Scholar

22 Art. 4, sec. 3.Google Scholar

23 Art. 4, sec. 4.Google Scholar

24 Art. 5.Google Scholar

25 Art. 6, sec. 1,Google Scholar

26 Art 6, sec. 2.Google Scholar

27 Art. 6, sec. 3.Google Scholar

28 Art. 7.Google Scholar

29 Report, note 30.Google Scholar

30 Id., note 31.Google Scholar

31 Id., note 32.Google Scholar

32 Art. 8.Google Scholar

33 Report, note 34.Google Scholar

34 Art. 9.Google Scholar

35 Note: the Explanatory Report on the Convention, note 37 appears to raise the question of civil liability for inaccurate responses should they be drafted by a private body or lawyer. It notes that in instances in which replies are drawn privately, “… the receiving agency is not required to check the substance of the reply; consequently, any responsibility there may be falls not to the State but on the person or body drawing up the reply.”Google Scholar

36 This formula is based on arts. 4 and 11 of the Hague Convention of 1 March 1954 on Civil Proceedings. Note also that the requested state is not required to furnish a reply in other instances also, e.g., if the requesting authority does not agree to private costs (art. 6, para. 3) or if additional information is not furnished (art. 13).Google Scholar

37 Report, note 38.Google Scholar

38 Art. 12.Google Scholar

39 Art. 13.Google Scholar

40 Art. 14.Google Scholar

41 Art. 15. Note, however, that this article does not settle the procedure for payment of the honorarium to a private receiving agency or lawyer. It also does not settle how the requesting state is to recover its costs but this was deemed to be a matter for the internal law of each country (see Report, note 49).Google Scholar

42 Art. 16.Google Scholar

43 Report, note 51.Google Scholar

44 Art. 19.Google Scholar

45 Art. 20.Google Scholar

46 Art. 21.Google Scholar

47 Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe 18th Session. Motion for a Recommendation on the accession by non-member countries to Council of Europe Conventions. Document 2185 of January 26, 1967.Google Scholar

48 Art. 18.Google Scholar

49 Council of Europe, Legal Affairs, Chart Showing Signatures and Ratifications of Council of Europe Conventions and Agreements, January 15, 1979.Google Scholar

50 Law 5882 of 1/12/76 authorizes Costa Rica's adherence to the European Convention on Information on Foreign Law, signed in London on 6/7/68.Google Scholar

51 Promulgated 4 October 1971, Bundesgesetsblatt [BGB1., official law gazette of Austria] No. 417/1971. However, in Austria the use of the Convention is relatively infrequent; 15 requests having been sent to date and only one has been received as of April 25, 1979. This is seen as a result of traditional participation by the Austrian Ministry of Justice in Austrian conflicts cases coupled with the fact that the Convention is relatively new and unfamiliar to legal practitioners. In addition, Austria has concluded some bilateral agreement on legal assistance, primarily with Eastern European countries, and frequently informal working arrangements are also reached. Furthermore, as in the case of the United States where formal government co-operation has not been instituted, the Austrian ministry will retain a private law firm to ascertain the law in question if the parties want to bear the costs. See: Report of Dr. Edith Palmer, European Convention on Information on Foreign Law (Austria), European Law Division, Library of Congress, May 1979.Google Scholar

52 See Instruction No. 311 of November 6, 1970, on Requests for Information on Foreign Law, translated into English from Ministerialtidende, by Dr. Finn Henriksen, European Law Division, Library of Congress, May 1979.Google Scholar

53 Kung. Maj :ts cirkular till statsmyndigheterna om tillampningen av den europeiska konventionen om innehallet i utlansk ratt, 1971 Svensk Forfattningssamling [official gazette of Sweden] 150.Google Scholar

54. Anagastikos Nomos [Emergency Law] No. 1712 of April 12/24, 1939, Peri Hellinikou Institoutou Diethnous kai Allodapou Dikaiou [Hellenic Institute of International and Foreign Law]. During the German occupation, this Law was abolished, but it was put back into force by Law No. 188 of December 12//16, 1946. 6 Diarkes Kodix Nomothesias [Continuing Code of Legislation] 95(a).Google Scholar

55 Staatsblad [Stb., official law gazette of the Netherlands] 371; decree of January 18, 1977, Stb. 26; and Staatscourant 1977, No. 16.Google Scholar

56 Law of June 30, 1976, Stb. 372.Google Scholar

57 Gesetz zur Ansführung des europäischen Übereinkommens vom 7. Juni 1968 betreffend Auskünfte über ausländisches Recht vom 5. Juli 1974, BGB1. I, p. 1433. English translation by Dr. Edith Palmer available from the European Law Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540. An informative report by Dr. Palmer on the Convention's Implementation in the Federal Republic of Germany is also available from the European Law Division of the Library of Congress.Google Scholar

58 United States-Western European trade for 1978 is reported to have reached the following dollar amounts: U.S. exports to Western Europe, 39,936.3 million; U.S. imports from Western Europe, 36,484.5 million. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Highlights of U.S. Export and Import Trade (Report FT 990) December 1978. (Communist countries other than Yugoslavia have been excluded in the figures provided.)Google Scholar