INTRODUCTION Contributed by: Simon Bushell and Gareth Keillor, Seladore Legal
Seladore Legal 20-22 Bedford Row London WC1R 4EB UK Tel: +44 020 3882 2201 Fax: +44 020 4571 6728
Email: info@seladorelegal.com Web: www.seladorelegal.com
Introduction While 2023 saw major legislative changes aimed at strengthening fraud prevention and enforce - ment, such as the passing of the Financial Ser - vices and Markets Act 2023 and the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 – which created the corporate offence of failure to prevent fraud – the key trends and develop - ments in 2024 have focused on clarifying legal principles, issuing regulatory guidance, and expanding enforcement tools. For example, over the past year, significant legal developments have emerged across various areas, including the courts providing clearer guidance on freez - ing injunctions and asset tracing in crypto fraud cases. Enforcement has also been the key focus of 2024, with welcomed further clarity on juris - dictional and enforcement issues, including the legal treatment of crypto-assets, and the enforcement of foreign judgments. The continual development and changing land - scape in the area of civil fraud mean that a guide of this nature is invaluable to practitioners in this area, and we commend this publication to you.
Legislative and Regulatory Developments UK ratification of the Hague Convention on foreign judgments On 27 June 2024, the UK government ratified the Hague Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recog - nition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (Hague Convention 2019). This treaty establishes a framework for the recognition and enforcement of court judg - ments in civil and commercial matters among its contracting states (Contracting States). It gov - erns how a judgment issued in one contract - ing state (State of origin) is treated in another (requested State). The Hague Convention 2019 will come into force for the UK on 1 July 2025, providing a uniform mechanism for the enforcement of judgments between the UK and other contracting states, including all EU member states except Denmark. The UK’s ratification is a significant and welcome development, particularly in the post-Brexit landscape, where the broad EU-wide regimes governing the enforcement of judgments no longer apply to the UK. This step will help facili - tate the recognition and enforcement of English judgments abroad, something that is particularly welcomed by fraud practitioners who often need to enforce judgments across a number of juris -
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