Sukhorukov, Ivan

The article analyses the nature of the right to consular assistance from a historical perspective and the practice of international tribunals. It argues that the right to consular assistance is not a human right since it prescribes no autonomous standard of treatment. Consular assistance is not necessary to compensate for the vulnerability of the detained foreigner since the situation may be restored by the measures under the national legislation of the receiving State. The article explains that there is no obligation under international law to provide consular assistance by the sending State. The receiving State has the duty to perform its obligations under Article 36 of the VCCR once there are grounds to believe that the detainee is a foreign national and the stage of investigation provides for the possibility of notification. The VCCR does not establish an exhaustive list of the requirements for the waiver of the right to consular assistance by the detainee. Its validity is to be assessed in accordance with the standards of the invoked human right.

The aim of this article is to analyze the scope of grounds for refusal of recognition and enforcement of judgements in civil and commercial matters in contemporary private international law. The article focuses mainly on the analysis of the grounds for non-recognition of judgments under the 2019 Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgements in Civil or Commercial Matters and Regulation No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgements in civil and commercial matters. The article provides a thorough analysis of the practical problems of the application of these grounds, such as public policy, irreconcilable judgments, fraud, the effectiveness of the notification of the defendant, and review of jurisdiction. The author argues that the material scope of grounds for refusal under both instruments is different, which might cause inconsistencies in their application by national courts.