Act for the Approval of the Hague Convention of 14 March 1978
on the Law Applicable to Matrimonial Property Regimes

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Summary

In this Act the Netherlands have approved the application of the Hague Convention of 14 March 1978 governing the law applicable to marital property regimes, yet under some reservations.

In accordance with Article 28 of the Hague Convention and as envisaged by Article 5 of that Convention the Netherlands have declared that, according to sub-paragraph 1 of the second paragraph of Article 4 of the Convention, the internal law of the Netherlands shall apply.

As principal rule the Hague Convention of 14 March 1978 specifies in Article 4 paragraph 1 that if the spouses, before marriage, have not designated the applicable law, their matrimonial property regime will be governed by the internal law of the State in which both spouses establish their first habitual residence after marriage. The Convention offers in Article 5 the possibility to make a reservation, indicating that the matrimonial property regime will be governed by the internal law of the State of the common nationality of the spouses. The Netherlands have made such a reservation.

Furthermore the Netherlands have declared, pursuant to Article 28 of the Convention, that in accordance with Article 9, paragraphs 2 and 3 in respect of the effects of the matrimonial property regime on the legal relations between a spouse and a third party, the following shall apply:

1. the effects of the matrimonial property regime on legal relations between a spouse and a third party shall be governed by the law applicable to the matrimonial property regime under Dutch law, subject to the provisions of points b and c;
   
2. a spouse whose matrimonial property regime is governed by foreign law may have a notarial act entered in the register referred to in Article 116, Book 1 of the Dutch Civil Code containing a declaration that his/her matrimonial property regime is governed by foreign law;
   
3. a third party who during the marriage has performed a legal transaction with a spouse whose matrimonial property regime is governed by foreign law, may seek recourse for the debt arising from the legal transaction even after the dissolution of the marriage as if a general community of property existed between the spouses according to Dutch law, if both the third party and both spouses had their habitual residence in the Netherlands at the time of the legal transaction;
   
4. the provisions of point c shall not apply if the third party either knew or should have known at the time of the legal transaction that the matrimonial property regime of the spouses was governed by foreign law. This is deemed to be the case if the legal transaction was performed at least fourteen days after an act as referred to in point b was entered in the said register.

Finally the Netherlands have stated that under Dutch law Articles 1:85, paragraph 1, 1:86, 1:88 and 1:89 of the Dutch Civil Code do not belong to the matrimonial property regime within the meaning of the Convention. These matters are governed by the Act Conflict of Law Rules for Marital Property Regimes, which Act forms a part of the internal law of the Netherlands.