Venezuela Judicial Assistance

Venezuela is a party to the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extra Judicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters.  Complete information on the operation of the Convention, including an interactive online request form are available on the Hague Conference website.  Requests should be completed in duplicate and submitted with two sets of the documents to be served, and translations, directly to Venezuela’s Central Authority for the Hague Service Convention.  The person in the United States executing the request form should be either an attorney or clerk of court.  The applicant should include the titles attorney at law or clerk of court on the identity and address of applicant and signature/stamp fields.  Venezuela formally objected to service under Article 10, and does not permit service via postal channels.  For additional information see the Hague Conference Service Convention web page and the Hague Conference Practical Handbook on the Operation of the Hague Service Convention. 

The United States and Venezuela are also parties to Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory and Additional Protocol.  The United States only has a treaty relationship with countries party to both the Convention and the Additional Protocol, which relate to service of process. No formal letters rogatory in the traditional sense are required.  Requests are prepared on a Convention form and transmitted to the U.S. Central Authority’s contractor, Process Forwarding International (PFI), for transmittal to the Venezuelan Central Authority.

Service on a Foreign State

See also our Service Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) feature and FSIA Checklist for questions about service on a foreign state, agency or instrumentality.

Service of Documents from Venezuela in the United States:  See information about service in the United States on the U.S. Central Authority for the Service Convention page of the Hague Conference on Private International Law Service Convention site.

Prosecution Requests: U.S. federal or state prosecutors should also contact the Office of International Affairs, Criminal Division, Department of Justice for guidance.

Defense Requests in Criminal Matters: Criminal defendants or their defense counsel seeking judicial assistance in obtaining evidence or in effecting service of documents abroad in connection with criminal matters may do so via the letters rogatory process.

Venezuela is a party to the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil and Commercial Matters.  See the Hague Evidence Convention Model Letters of Request for guidance on preparation of the letter of request.  Such requests must be transmitted by the requesting court or person in the United States to the Venezuelan Central Authority and do notrequire transmittal via diplomatic channels.  Letters of Request and accompanying documents should be prepared in duplicate and translated into Spanish.  See Venezuela’s Declarations and Reservations regarding the Hague Evidence Convention. 

Requests from Venezuela to Obtain Evidence in the United States:  The U.S. Central Authority for the Hague Evidence Convention is the Office of International Judicial Assistance, Civil Division, Department of Justice, 1100 L St., N.W., Room 11006, Washington, D.C. 20530.