The Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements was completed at the Diplomatic Conference of the Hague Conference on Private International Law on June 30, 2005. While the Convention has been available for signature and ratification by Member States of the Hague Conference and for accession by other States from that date forward, it was not practical for any state to move forward in regard to becoming a Contracting State until the completion of the official Explanatory Report. With the completion of the Explanatory Report in May of 2007, the Convention is ripe for consideration by all States, and Mexico has become the first state to ratify.

We hope this book will provide a balanced and substantive look at the process that created the Convention and the resulting Convention text. We also hope the exposition on the pages that follow will prove useful to those wanting a better understanding of the Convention, as well as to those who may be involved in decisions about national positions in regard to the status of the Convention. Our participation as members of the United States Delegation that negotiated the Convention has informed our discussion. This book is not, however, intended as a participant's memoir. We have endeavored to present as complete and factual a picture of the text and its context as we are able.

We have included two appendices in this book.