The
Governments of the Member States of the Organization
of American States, desirous of concluding a Convention
on Execution of Preventive Measures, have agreed as
follows:
I.
TERMS EMPLOYED
Article
1: For the purposes of this Convention, the terms "preventive
measures" or "security measures" or "guarantee
measures" are deemed to be equivalent when they
are used to mean procedures or measures whose purpose
is to guarantee the findings or effects of a pending
or future proceeding concerning the security of persons,
property, or of obligations to give, to do or not do
a specific thing in civil, commercial or labor matters,
or in criminal trials in which civil damages are sought.
The States Parties may declare that they are limiting
this Convention exclusively to one or more of the preventive
measures provided for in it.
II.
SCOPE OF THE CONVENTION
Article
2: The judges or courts of the States Parties to this
Convention shall execute the preventive measures that
are decreed by a judge or court of another State Party
competent in the international sphere, and whose purpose
is:
a.
To execute measures necessary to guarantee the security
of persons, such as the protective custody of minor
children or provisional maintenance.
b.
To execute measures necessary to guarantee the security
of property, such as the preventive attachment of immovable
and movable property, the registration of the suit or
the administration and seizure of businesses.
III.
APPLICABLE LAW
Article
3:
The grounds for a preventive measure shall be decided
in accordance with the laws and by the judges of the
place of the proceedings. However, its execution and
the counter preventive measure or guaranty shall be determined
by the judges of the place where execution is sought,
in accordance with its law.
The
guaranty that the requesting party is to provide and
any guaranty that the party affected may offer to provide
in the place where the measure is to be executed shall
be governed by the law of the place where the measure
is executed.
Article
4: Amendment of the preventive measure, as well as the
sanctions resulting from malicious or unwarranted claims,
shall be governed by the law of the place where the
measure is executed.
Only
in the event that the party affected justifies the absolute
lack of grounds for the measure or when the petition
is based on the impairment of the guaranty provided,
the judge of the State of execution may lift such measure
in accordance with his own law.
Article
5: When an attachment or any other preventive measure
involving property has been executed, the person affected
by this measure may plead his third-party claim or pertinent
objections before the judge to whom the letter rogatory
was addressed, for the sole purpose of having that claim
communicated to the judge of origin when the letter
rogatory is returned to him. When the judge of origin
has been notified of the filing of a third-party claim
or assertion of rights, he shall suspend the principal
proceedings for a period not to exceed sixty days so
that the third-party claimant may assert his rights.
The
objection shall be heard by the judge of the principal
proceedings, in conformity with his law. Any objector
who appears before the court after the expiration of
the indicated term must accept the existing status of
the case.
If
the third-party claim excludes ownership or rights in
rem over the property attached, or the objection is
based on possession or ownership of the property attached,
it shall be decided by the judges in accordance with
the law of the place where the property is located.
Article
6: The execution of preventive measures by a judge or
court of the State of destination shall not entail any
commitment to recognize and execute the foreign judgment
that may have been rendered in the proceeding concerned.
Article
7: The judge or court to which the request for execution
of a foreign judgment is addressed may, without additional
proceedings and upon petition of one of the parties,
take the necessary preventive measures, in accordance
with its law.
Article
8: Without prejudice to the rights of third parties,
the consular authorities of a State Party may receive
the personal effects of a national of that State Party
when, because of death, they are placed at the disposal
of the relatives or heirs presumptive of the national
and there are no such relatives or heirs, unless otherwise
provided in international conventions. The same procedure
shall be followed when a person is unable to administer
his property as a result of a criminal proceeding.
Article
9: When the preventive measure relates to the custody
of minors, the judge or court of the State of destination
may limit, in his territory, the scope of the effects
of the measure pending the final judgment of the judge
of the principal proceedings.
Article
10: The judges or courts of the States Parties to this
Convention shall, upon a well-founded request by one
of the parties, order and execute all preventive or
urgent measures of a territorial nature whose purpose
is to guarantee the result of a pending or potential
suit. This shall apply regardless of which judge or
court is competent in the international sphere in any
of the States Parties to hear the merits of the case,
provided that the property or right that this measure
will affect is located in the territory under the jurisdiction
of the judge or court addressed by the party. If the
case is pending, the court that ordered the measure
shall immediately inform the judge or court of the principal
proceedings.
If
proceedings have not been instituted, the judge or court
that ordered the measure shall set a date by which the
petitioner must appear in court to assert his rights;
he must abide by the final judgment on them rendered
by the judge competent in the international sphere in
any of the States Parties.
Article
11: Should the judge or court addressed find that it
lacks jurisdiction to execute the letter rogatory, it
shall ex officio forward the documents and antecedents
of the case to the judicial authority of the State that
has jurisdiction.
Article
12: The State of destination may decline to execute
a letter rogatory concerning preventive measures that
are manifestly contrary to its public policy (ordre
public).
IV.
PROCESSING
Article
13: The preventive measures covered by this Convention
shall be executed by means of letters rogatory, which
may be transmitted to the judge or court addressed by
the interested parties themselves, through judicial
channels, through consular or diplomatic agents, or
through the Central Authority of the State of origin
or of the State of destination, as the case may be.
Each
State Party shall inform the General Secretariat of
the Organization of American States of its Central Authority
competent to receive and distribute letters rogatory.
Article
14: Letters rogatory shall be executed in the States
Parties provided that they meet the following requirements:
a.
The letter rogatory is legalized. The letter rogatory
shall be presumed to be duly legalized in the State
of origin when legalized by a competent consular or
diplomatic agent.
b.
The letter rogatory and the accompanying documentation
are duly translated into the official language of the
State of destination. The authorities may require them
to be translated in conformity with their own laws.
Article
15: Letters rogatory shall be accompanied by the following
documents, which shall be delivered to the Central Authority
or judge or court of the State of destination:
a.
Authenticated copy of the request or petition for the
preventive measure, and of the attached documentation
and of the rulings that ordered it;
b.
Information concerning the procedural rules that establish
any special procedure that the judge or court of the
State of origin may request the judge or court of the
State of destination to follow;
c.
Where appropriate, information on the existence and
address of the court appointed defense counsel or of
competent legal aid societies in the State of origin.
Article
16: The costs and other expenses involved in the processing
and execution of letters rogatory concerning preventive
measures shall be borne by the interested parties.
The
State of destination may, at its discretion, execute
a letter rogatory that does not indicate the interested
party to be held responsible for expenses and costs
when incurred, except when provisional maintenance is
involved, in which case the court of the State of destination
shall process it ex officio. The judge or court of the
State of origin shall specify the content and scope
of the respective measure. Either in the letter rogatory
or at the time of its execution, the identity of the
person empowered to represent the interested party for
legal purposes may be specified. A declaration in forma
pauperis recognized in the State of origin shall be
recognized in the State of destination.
V.
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article
17:
States Parties belonging to economic integration
systems or having common borders may agree directly
among themselves upon special methods and procedures
more expeditious than those provided for in this Convention.
These agreements may be extended to include other States
in the manner in which the parties may agree.
Article
18: This Convention shall not limit any provisions regarding
preventive measures in bilateral or multilateral agreements
that may have been signed or may be signed in the future
by the States Parties, or preclude the continuation
of more favorable practices in this regard that may
be followed by these States.
VI.
FINAL PROVISIONS
Article
19:
This Convention shall be open for signature by the
Member States of the Organization of American States.
Article
20: This Convention is subject to ratification. The
instruments of ratification shall be deposited with
the General Secretariat of the Organization of American
States.
Article
21: This Convention shall remain open for accession
by any other State. The instrument of accession shall
be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Organization
of American States.
Article
22: Each State may, at the time of signature, ratification
or accession, make reservations to this Convention provided
that each reservation concerns one or more specific
provisions and is not incompatible with the object and
purpose of the Convention.
Article
23: This Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth
day following the date of deposit of the second instrument
of ratification.
For
each State ratifying or acceding to the Convention after
the deposit of the second instrument of ratification,
the Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth
day after deposit by such State of its instrument of
ratification or accession.
Article
24: If a State Party has two or more territorial units
in which different systems of law apply in relation
to the matters dealt with in this Convention, it may,
at the time of signature, ratification or accession,
declare that this Convention shall extend to all its
territorial units or only to one or more of them.
Such
declaration may be modified by subsequent declarations,
which shall expressly indicate the territorial unit
or units to which the Convention applies. Such subsequent
declarations shall be transmitted to the General Secretariat
of the Organization of American States, and shall become
effective thirty days after the date of their receipt.
Article
25: This Convention shall remain in force indefinitely,
but any of the States Parties may denounce it. The instrument
of denunciation shall be deposited with the General
Secretariat of the Organization of American States.
After one year from the date of deposit of the instrument
of denunciation, the Convention shall no longer be in
effect for the denouncing State, but shall remain in
effect for the other States Parties.
Article
26: The original instrument of this Convention, the
English, French, Portuguese and Spanish texts of which
are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the General
Secretariat of the Organization of American States,
which will forward an authenticated copy of its text
to the Secretariat of the United Nations for registration
and publication in accordance with Article 102 of its
Charter. The General Secretariat of the Organization
of American States shall notify the Member States of
that Organization and the States that have acceded to
the Convention of the signatures, deposits of instruments
of ratification, accession and denunciation as well
as of reservations, if any. It shall also transmit the
information mentioned in the second paragraph of Article
13 and the declarations referred to in Article 24 of
this Convention.
IN
WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, being
duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments,
have signed this Convention.
DONE
AT MONTEVIDEO, Republic of Uruguay, this eighth day
of May, one thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine.