§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Attorney-General if he will make a statement of the Government's policy on the adoption of the draft United States/United Kingdom Convention on the recognition of jurisprudence for civil actions; and what consultations he has had with industry on this.
§ The Attorney-GeneralA text of a draft convention between the United Kingdom and the United States of America providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil matters was initialled on 26th October 1976. This text was considerably influenced by replies received to two consultative papers which were circulated in May 1974 and April 1975 to, among others, representative bodies in industry. The text, which was published in April 1977 as Cmnd. 6771, is currently under consideration by the Governments of both countries and further negotiations on it are probable. My noble Friend, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade, have received numerous representations on the convention, and in response to the representations officials have had correspondence with a range of firms and trade associations, and talks have taken place with representatives of the insurance industry and of the Confederation of British Industry.