Agency in Private International Law: The Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Agency

The provisons of the Hague Agency Convention become relevant whenever one is dealing with agency relationships in the broadest sense in an international context. Its scope extends to many other situations where agency takes place, both directly and indirectly. The rules of the Convention are applied to find the laws governing both the internal and external agency relationships in all areas of international business and finance. The Convention has currently been ratified by four states (the Netherlands, France, Portugal and Argentina), but several countries have enacted legislation inspired by it, for the interpretation of which the Convention may have significance. Moreover, now that it has entered into force (in 1992), it is not unlikely that it will be ratified by more states. This study presents an analysis of the Convention, with references to the laws of various jurisdictions. References to legal systems other than that of the Netherlands have been checked by local lawyers.