[WEBINAR] Cross-border Commercial Dispute Resolution - Electronic Service of Documents and Remote Taking of Evidence

The use of information technology (IT) is becoming increasingly pervasive in legal processes. Service of documents by electronic means, including email and online platforms, is no longer a novelty. The same applies to the remote taking of evidence by video-link. Practical and effective cross-border judicial and administrative cooperation must be considered within the context of a business environment that relies on the use of IT. More countries have amended their domestic laws and processes to facilitate the use of IT for these purposes. In most cases, however, the use of IT may be subject to certain conditions or requirements, such as compliance with data security and privacy considerations. The Permanent Bureau (PB) of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), which supports the operation of the 1965 Service Convention and the 1970 Evidence Convention, is also working to ensure that, where possible, IT is leveraged to enhance the operation of these two important instruments for cross-border dispute resolution. 

This fourth joint webinar between the Asian Business Law Institute and the PB of the HCCH, is expected to cover, among others: 

• Electronic transmission of requests under the 1965 Service and 1970 Evidence Conventions, including the use of IT for communication among Central Authorities and other competent authorities.
• Service by electronic means (email, online platforms, etc.) across different jurisdictions under the 1965 Service Convention;
• Remote taking of evidence by video-link and electronic evidence under the 1970 Evidence Convention; Practitioners from jurisdictions that are signatories to these two Conventions would benefit in particular from relevant practical insights 

When is this webinar scheduled?
This webinar will take place from 5pm to 6:10pm (Singapore time) on Thursday, 10 July 2025.
Please be mindful of the time difference if you are joining from outside of Singapore.

Who will be speaking at this webinar (in alphabetical order)?
Melissa Ford (Joining from The Hague, Netherlands)
Secretary, Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law
Melissa Ford is Secretary at the Permanent Bureau (PB) of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, and is the head of the Transnational Litigation and Apostille Division.

Melissa has primary responsibility for the Working Group on Jurisdiction, as well as the 1961 Apostille Convention, 1965 Service Convention, 1970 Evidence Convention, 1980 Access to Justice Convention, 2005 Choice of Court Convention, and the 2019 Judgments Convention. Prior to joining the PB in 2022, Melissa worked at the Attorney-General’s Department of the Australian Government.

Lucinda Orr (London, United Kingdom)
Partner, Enyo Law LLP
Lucinda Orr is a Partner at Disputes Specialist firm, Enyo Law LLP, in the City of London. She has a broad international commercial disputes practice and has acted in some of the most high-value and complex litigation in front of the English Courts in recent years.

She has also been Counsel in many Letters of Request under the Hague Convention over the last 15 years, and for the last two years has been appointed by the Lord Chancellor as an Examiner of the Court for England and Wales under the Hague Convention on Taking of Evidence.

Justice Anselmo Reyes
International Judge, Singapore International Commercial Court
Justice Reyes was appointed as a Judge of the Court of First Instance in Hong Kong and served in that capacity from 2003 to 2012. As a Judge, his specialisation was construction, arbitration, commercial and admiralty matters. Justice Reyes obtained a BA (Law), LLM and PhD in Law from Cambridge University in 1982, 1983 and 1987 respectively, and was called to both the Hong Kong and the Singapore Bar. He was appointed Senior Counsel in Hong Kong in 2001.

He is currently a Professor of Legal Practice in the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong and is an active practitioner in commercial arbitration. He was Representative of the Hague Conference on Private International Law Asia Pacific Regional Office in Hong Kong from 2013 to 2017. He is also an Overseas Bencher of the Inner Temple.
Justice Reyes became an International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court in 2015.

Dr Xu Guojian (Shanghai, China)
Senior Partner, SGLA Law Firm
Dr Xu Guojian studied law in China, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany before obtaining his doctoral degree in law from the University of Hamburg in 1994.

Dr Xu is an expert in the settlement of international commercial disputes. He has participated in the settlement of hundreds of commercial dispute cases as counsel and arbitrator. As a member of the Chinese delegation, he participated in the negotiations and conclusion of the HCCH Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Courts Agreements and the HCCH Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters. He is an expert of China participating in the HCCH's Working Group on the Jurisdiction Project.

Dr Xu is Vice President of the China Society of Private International Law, a member of the Administrative Review Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and Distinguished Dean of the School of International Law of Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. He is also an arbitrator with many well-known arbitration institutions.

Dr Xu has published nearly 100 articles and books in Chinese, English and German.

What if I am unable to attend this webinar after registration? Are the fees paid refundable?
Unfortunately, the payments made are not refundable. If you are unable to attend the webinar, we request that you let us know as soon as possible so that we can let you transfer your slot to your colleague.

I am interested in this webinar but unable to make it for the live session. If I register, will a recording be made available to me?
Yes, a recording of the webinar can be made available upon request via a private link, though it is important to bear in mind that viewing the recording will not entitle you to any public CPD points. In principle, we only provide recording upon request by a paid attendee.

Will the materials presented at the webinar be made available to attendees?
The materials can be made available to attendees if the speakers so consent as they are the copyright owners of their presentation materials. Those who wish to receive such materials are advised to write to [email protected] after the webinar for more information.

I want to sign up for the webinar but my organization requires registration to be done by other means, such as by sending an invoice to a dedicated portal. How do I register in this case?
In principle, your registration for the webinar is only confirmed after payment is made online. However, if you need to pay against a manual invoice by bank transfer or other means, or if you are from a Singapore government agency that uses a central invoicing system, please write to [email protected] so that ABLI can arrange an alternative way of registration for you, taking your needs into consideration.

Does this webinar contain any Mandatory Ethics Component (MEC)? 
No, this webinar does not have any MEC component. 

 
I am a practitioner qualified in a jurisdiction other than Singapore. Will attending this webinar entitle me to claim relevant CPD-equivalent points in my own jurisdiction?
The answer to this question depends on the rules of the relevant governing body in your jurisdiction. In the past, we have issued letters of attendance accompanied by actual Zoom log-in records to assist non-Singapore-qualified attendees to claim their professional learning points. Therefore, if a letter of attendance and a Zoom record are all you need, we will be able to help. Likewise, we have issued the same set of documents to professionals other than lawyers who may also have such continuing education requirements.

However, if the rules of your jurisdiction require an event to be accredited, we regret that this session will not entitle you to claim points outside of Singapore.

Who can I contact if I have more questions?
Please write to [email protected] for any other query you may have about this webinar.