Ukraine’s Private International Law Conventions: Status, Declarations and Authorities

Reference Updated November 1, 2026 Author: Anna Tsirat Download PDF

When a foreign court or tribunal applies Ukrainian law, or asks for its content to be proved, the first question is which instrument governs: whether Ukraine is bound by the convention, since when, with what reservations and through which authority. Ukraine’s Private International Law Act gives precedence to treaties: where an international treaty of Ukraine provides rules different from the Act, the treaty rules apply (Art. 3), and ratified treaties in force form part of national legislation (Art. 19 of the Law on International Treaties). A Ukrainian court establishes the content of foreign law according to its official interpretation, practice and doctrine in the foreign state, and may apply to the Ministry of Justice or engage experts for that purpose (Art. 8).

This page collects the 36 multilateral conventions and protocols on private international law and international civil procedure in force for Ukraine, together with instruments signed but not ratified and those that have ceased to apply, so that they are not relied on by mistake. For each instrument we give the basis of participation, the date of entry into force for Ukraine, the declarations and reservations made in the ratification or accession laws, and the competent authorities. Bilateral legal-assistance treaties are covered in a separate reference page, which also gives a short guide to finding the legal basis for recognising a foreign judgment; conventions on carriage, intellectual property and taxation are outside the scope.

Before relying on a convention

• Fourteen Hague instruments. Ukraine has been a Member of the Hague Conference since 3 December 2003 and is a Contracting Party to fourteen of its instruments, from the 1954 Civil Procedure Convention to the 2019 Judgments Convention. It has signed no Hague instrument without ratifying it. Ukraine is not a party to the 1993 Intercountry Adoption Convention, the 2000 Protection of Adults Convention or the 1973 Convention on the Law Applicable to Maintenance Obligations.
• Three accessions do not operate with every party. The 1970 Evidence Convention, the 1971 Traffic Accidents Convention and the 1980 Child Abduction Convention require each state to accept an accession (Arts. 39, 20 and 38 respectively). According to the HCCH table, Ukraine’s accession to the 1971 Convention has been accepted only by Slovakia, Spain and Serbia; with the other 18 parties its choice-of-law rules do not apply in relations with Ukraine. For the 1970 and 1980 Conventions the lists of acceptances are much longer, but they must be checked for each pair of states.
• Maintenance: the 2007 Convention replaces the older ones. Between its Contracting States the 2007 Hague Child Support Convention replaces the 1973 Hague Maintenance Decisions Convention (Art. 48) and the 1956 UN Convention on the Recovery Abroad of Maintenance (Art. 49) insofar as their scopes of application coincide. The 1973 and 1956 Conventions remain relevant with states that are not parties to the 2007 Convention.
• The CISG applies with a writing requirement. Ukraine maintains the Ukrainian SSR’s declaration under Arts. 12 and 96: a sales contract, its modification, an offer or an acceptance cannot be made otherwise than in writing where a party has its place of business in Ukraine. The 1974 Limitation Convention applies in its original text: Ukraine never acceded to the 1980 Protocol.
• Cape Town declarations follow the creditor-friendly model. Ukraine applies Arts. VIII and XIII of the Aircraft Protocol (choice of law, IDERA), Alternative A of Art. XI with a 60-day waiting period, and allows remedies to be exercised without leave of the court unless the Protocol requires a court application. The entry point to the International Registry is the State Aviation Service.
• Foreign law can be proved through official channels. Requests on the content of foreign law run under the 1968 European Convention with its 1978 Protocol and, since 17 June 2021, under the 1979 Inter-American Convention, both through the Ministry of Justice. The Inter-American Convention expressly lists among admissible means an expert opinion consisting of the view of lawyers or specialists (Art. 3). In our view, before a court outside Europe and the Americas only an expert report on Ukrainian law and the parties’ documents under Art. 8 of the Private International Law Act remain.
• Legalisation: three regimes. Apostilles under the 1961 Convention are issued by six authorities depending on the type of document (Cabinet Resolution No. 61); since 6 April 2023 documents executed by consuls and diplomats of Council of Europe states are exempt from legalisation under ETS 063; documents transmitted under legal-assistance treaties or the 1965 and 1970 Hague Conventions need no legalisation at all.
• Almost no instruments remain for CIS states. The 1992 Kyiv Agreement on economic disputes ceased to apply to Ukraine on 5 February 2023 and the 1993 Minsk Convention on 29 December 2023. Bilateral treaties remain with Moldova, Georgia and Uzbekistan. With Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan there are no bilateral treaties, and the Hague Conventions each shares with Ukraine differ (HCCH status tables): with Tajikistan only the Apostille Convention, with Turkmenistan none: its only Hague instrument, the 1980 Child Abduction Convention, does not apply with Ukraine because neither state has accepted the other’s accession (Art. 38). All six are parties to the 1958 New York Convention (UNTC), so arbitral awards are recognised under it; maintenance with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan falls under the 2007 Hague Convention. In our view, for other court judgments from these states only reciprocity under Art. 462 of the Code of Civil Procedure remains.
• Signed but not ratified. The 2018 Singapore Convention on Mediation (signed 7 August 2019) and two Council of Europe conventions of 1977–1978 on service of documents and obtaining evidence in administrative matters (signed 12 April 2018) are not in force for Ukraine. Ukraine is also not a member of UNIDROIT, which does not prevent participation in its conventions.

Conventions by depositary organisation

Dates are taken from the Verkhovna Rada records and ratification laws, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs notices of entry into force and the depositaries’ status tables (HCCH, UNTC, UNIDROIT, Council of Europe Treaty Office) as of October 31, 2026. Where a Verkhovna Rada record differs from the depositary, both dates are shown. Apart from article-specific declarations, Ukraine has lodged general territorial declarations with the depositaries: in 2015 on its inability to guarantee performance in the temporarily occupied territories, in March 2022 in connection with martial law, and in December 2023 excluding territories where hostilities are (were) conducted or that are temporarily occupied; for the New York Convention these are the communications of 20.10.2015 and 04.03.2022 (UNTC). Which declarations apply to a given convention is shown in its status table (example: the 1965 Convention). Article numbers follow the Ukrainian texts published by the Verkhovna Rada.

• Hague Conference on Private International Law (14)
• United Nations and UNCITRAL (6)
• UNIDROIT (4)
• Council of Europe (13)
• Other conventions and agreements, including those no longer in force (4)

Hague Conference on Private International Law

United Nations and UNCITRAL

UNIDROIT

Council of Europe

Other conventions and agreements, including those no longer in force

What is not among Ukraine’s treaties

A checklist of instruments often assumed to bind Ukraine although Ukraine has not signed or not ratified them.

• Lugano Convention 2007 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters — parties: EU, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland; Ukraine is not a party, and Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 (Brussels I bis) does not extend to it — status
• Hague Convention 1993 on Intercountry Adoption — 107 Contracting Parties; Ukraine has not signed — status
• Hague Convention 2000 on the International Protection of Adults — 17 Contracting Parties — status
• Hague Convention 1973 on the Law Applicable to Maintenance Obligations — 15 Contracting Parties (Ukraine applies the 2007 Protocol instead) — status
• Protocol of 1980 amending the Limitation Convention — 17 Parties (Ministry of Justice letter of 11.10.2007) — status
• UN Convention 2005 on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts — 21 Parties — status
• UN Convention 2004 on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property — not in force; Ukraine has not signed — status
• Singapore Convention on Mediation 2018 — signed 07.08.2019, not ratified — status
• European Convention on State Immunity 1972 (ETS 074) and Convention on the Calculation of Time-Limits 1972 (ETS 076) — not signed — status
• UNIDROIT membership — Ukraine is not among the 63 member states; UNIDROIT conventions are open to non-members — status

How we can help

We prepare legal opinions and expert reports on Ukrainian law for foreign courts, tribunals and counterparties in which the status of a convention, Ukraine’s reservations and the competent authority are confirmed from primary sources rather than secondary summaries. See our Legal Opinions and Expert Witness practice page.

If you know of a convention or a change that is not yet listed, let us know and we will update the page.

Related materials

• Proving Ukrainian law abroad: what a tribunal actually asks the expert
• Ukrainian Law Opinion for a Closing: What Surprises Foreign Counsel
• Serving Proceedings on a Ukrainian Defendant: Why the Post Office Will Cost You the Judgment
• Taking Evidence in Ukraine for a Foreign Court: What Is Excluded, What Works
• The 2019 Hague Judgments Convention: Enforcing a Foreign Judgment in Ukraine
• Cape Town Opinions from Ukraine: What the Opinion Confirms — and Where It Honestly Stops
• Reference: Ukraine’s Treaties on Legal Assistance and Recognition of Judgments
• Reference: Ukraine’s Security of Information Agreements

This page is not legal advice. Information as of October 31, 2026; sources are the texts of the conventions and of the ratification or accession laws published by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs notices of entry into force, and the status tables of the HCCH, UNTC, UNIDROIT and the Council of Europe Treaty Office.