The Assembly,
Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve greater unity between its Members and that this aim is to be pursued by the conclusion of agreements and common action, inter alia, in legal matters;
Considering that the Committee of Ministers, in its Special Message of 20th May 1954, announced its intention of studying ways and means of unifying and harmonising the legislation of member States and declared that it would welcome the Assembly's proposals in this matter;
Convinced that it is desirable that judgments pronounced in one member State should, as far as possible, be given full recognition and credit in other member States;
Having regard to the work already done on this subject by the Hague Conference on Private International Law;
Being informed that the six member States of the European Economic Community are considering the possibility of concluding a convention on this subject;
Believing, nevertheless, that it would be better than an attempt should be made to do so in the wider framework of the Council of Europe;
Having considered the Report of its Legal Committee (Doc. 1135),
Recommends that the Committee of Ministers should invite the Hague Conference on Private International Law to prepare a multilateral convention providing for the reciprocal recognition of foreign judgments in civil and commercial cases, excluding judgments concerning the status and capacity of persons.