Return of Judicial Documents in Successful and Unsuccessful Service of Judicial Documents in the Philippines from Other State Parties (Inbound Requests for Service) under the Hague Service Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters

June 27, 2022

OCA CIRCULAR NO. 156-2022

 

It has been observed that voluminous judicial documents relative to the subject Hague Service Convention have been erroneously transmitted to the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) as the Central Authority of the Philippines under Administrative Order (A.O.) No. 251-2020. 1 In order to address this, the following procedures on the return of service and transmission to the requesting state 2 are hereby REITERATED and EMPHASIZED:

8. Return on the Service. — The officer assigned to serve the document shall execute a return on the service in accordance with the Rules of Court, and submit the same to the judge of the court who directed the service of the document within five (5) days from service. The return shall state that the document and attachment/s have been served, and shall include the method, the place and the date of service, and the person to whom the document was delivered.

If the document was not delivered successfully, the return shall state the reasons which prevented the successful service. The officer assigned shall deliver the unserved document to the court, so that it may later be returned to the Forwarding Authority.

9. Certificate. — As soon as the return on the service is submitted, whether the service is successful or not, the judge shall immediately accomplish and sign the Certificate, following the Model Form annexed to the Hague Service Convention. In case of unsuccessful service, the documents sought to be served shall be attached to the Certificate.

10. Transmission to the Requesting State. — Within thirty (30) calendar days from receipt of the request, the judge shall transmit the duly-accomplished Certificate and the Return of Service to the Forwarding Authority of the Requesting State. These shall be accompanied by a copy of the documents served, in cases of successful service, or the original documents, in cases of unsuccessful service. The judge shall furnish the OCA with a copy of all the documents transmitted, for monitoring purposes. Should compliance exceed thirty (30) calendar days, the judge shall also submit an explanation to the OCA for the delay. (Emphasis added)

To stress, in both successful and unsuccessful service, it is the court, not the OCA as the Central Authority, which will transmit to the Forwarding Authority of the Requesting State the copy of documents successfully served, or the original unserved documents, with the required Certificate and Return.

Finally, Executive Judges are reminded to carefully read and follow the Memoranda on Requests for Service of Judicial Documents, particularly for South Korea and Japan, which have specific requirements and addresses where to send compliances.

For guidance and strict observance.

(SGD.) RAUL B. VILLANUEVACourt Administrator

Footnotes

1. Approving the proposed Guidelines on the Implementation in the Philippines of the Hague Service Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters, dated 11 September 2020; Circularized: OCA Circular No. 163-2020 dated 1 October 2020.

2. III. Requests for Extraterritorial Service of Judicial Documents in the Philippines from Other State Parties (Inbound Requests for Service).