All the major countries including USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Australia, Russia are members of Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters. All the provisions of the Hague Convention are not binding on the member countries. The Convention itself expressly permits Contracting States to modify the manner in which certain provisions apply to them by making reservations, declarations, or objections at the time of accession or ratification. This built-in flexibility recognises differences in domestic legal systems, sovereignty concerns, and procedural traditions. Accordingly, member countries have specifically accepted or objected some of the non-obligatory provisions. The details of some countries are provided below:
United States of America: The U.S. has not objected to Article 10 methods (e.g., service by postal channels, judicial officers) and therefore generally permits them, consistent with practice and jurisprudence. Thus, mail and judicial officer service are permitted in most U.S. jurisdictions under the Convention.
Canada: Canada’s official declarations under the Convention include:
Article 15(2) — Judges may give judgment if the conditions under Article 15(2) are met (i.e., even without a certificate of service where appropriate).
Article 16(3) — Applications for relief from the effects of expiry of an appeal period will not be entertained after one year from the judgment date, except in exceptional cases determined by the court seized of the matter.
Canada does not appear to object to Article 10 methods (like postal service) in the official status list, indicating a more flexible approach compared to some states
United Kingdom
The UK’s status records focus on designation and territorial application, but no specific reservations or objections to the methods of service (e.g., Article 10) are listed in the public portion of the official HCCH status table. In practice, service under the Convention (including postal and judicial officer methods where permitted by domestic law) is generally accepted in the UK.
Australia
Australia’s HCCH notification under the Hague Convention includes:
• A declaration under Article 16 or related procedural authority provisions, and
• A specific declaration refusing to execute letters of request for obtaining pre-trial discovery of documents as known in common law (i.e., the Australian central authority will not execute such letters of request under the Convention).
This is not a reservation on service methods but is a clear limitation on executing pre-trial discovery requests under Convention mechanisms.
Singapore
Singapore has made clear declarations affecting service channels:
Article 8 — Singapore is opposed to direct service by foreign diplomatic or consular agents in its territory unless the addressee is a national of the sending state.
Article 10 — Singapore objects to the methods of transmission listed in Article 10 (postal and direct judicial officer channels).
This, in Singapore, the only reliable Convention service method is through the Central Authority, and alternative methods like service by mail are not accepted.
JAPAN
Japan is a Contracting Party to the Hague Convention, but the HCCH public status table does not list specific reservations or declarations for Japan regarding service methods in the readily visible records. Unless a separate instrument is deposited (not shown in the open status table), Japan is treated as applying the standard provisions of the Convention without reservations on Article 8/10 methods.
The list of member countries of Hague Convention is provided below in alphabetical order:
Albania
Andorra
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Egypt
El Salvador
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
India
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malawi
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mexico
Monaco
Montenegro
Morocco
Netherlands
Nicaragua
North Macedonia
Norway
Pakistan
Paraguay
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Republic of Korea
Republic of Moldova
Romania
Russian Federation
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
San Marino
Serbia
Seychelles
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland
Tunisia
Türkiye
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States of America
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
Viet Nam