No. 06-449/CONS

The
Embassy of the United States of American presents its compliments to the
Ministry of External Affairs and wishes to provide information regarding fees
payable for service of process to a person in the United States who is a party
to an Indian judicial proceeding.In
accordance with the Department of State’s Circular Diplomatic Note of June 4,
2003 (of which a copy is included herein), the United States announced to all
foreign missions in Washington that effective June, 2003, it began using the
services of a private firm, Process Forwarding International (PFI) to act on
behalf of the United States to receive requests for service, proceed to serve
the documents, and complete the certificate of service.It also announced that there would be a fee
to cover the costs occasioned by the use of this private firm.This change applied to countries party to
the Hague Convention on the Service of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in
Civil and Commercial Matters and the Inter-American Convention on Letters
Rogatory and Additional Proctocol, as well as countries not party to either
multilateral treaty on service of process. Requests for service of process must
be sent directly to PFI..

Under
the current contract, PFI charges a flat rate of US $ 93 for process of service
throughout the United States and its territories.Beginning on June 1, 2006, that fee will increase to US $95.Payment of the requisite fee must
be made at the time of the request for service of process or the request will be
rejected for non-compliance with this fee requirement.

Further
information on this policy and the use by the United States of a private
contractor to effect international requests for service of process may be found
in the documents presented by the United States at The Hague and may be found
at http://hcch.e-vision.nl.The propriety of the assessment of such fees
to cover the costs occasioned by the employment of third parties is fully
discussed in the Conclusions and Recommendations of the Special Commission of
October-November 2003 which were presented at the Hague and may be found at the
same website.

The
information provided herein relates to judicial matters involving private
parties.With respect to judicial
matters in which one of the parties is the Government of India, no service of
process fee is applicable.

The
Embassy also wishes to remind the Ministry that the U.S. Government continues
to make every attempt to ensure reciprocity with respect to any request for
judicial assistance in civil matters made by the Government of India.

The
Embassy of the United States of America avails itself of this opportunity to
renew to the Ministry of External Affairs the assurances of its highest
consideration.

Embassy of the United States of America

New Delhi, May 25, 2006

The
Secretary of State presents his compliments to Their Excellencies, Messieurs
and Mesdames the Chiefs of Mission, and has the honor to inform them of certain
changes to the way judicial assistance is afforded to foreign tribunals and to
litigants before such tribunals by the Government of the United States.

The
Secretary of State’s circular diplomatic note of February 3,1975 described how
requests from foreign tribunals for service of process and compulsion of
evidence should be prepared for execution in the United States.The purpose of this circular diplomatic note
is to announce a change in how request from foreign tribunals for service of
process in civil and commercial matters will be handled in the United
States.This change will affect
countries party to the Hague Convention on the Service of Judicial and
Extrajudicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters and the Inter-American
Convenntion on Letters Rogatory and Additional Protocol, as well as countries
not party to either multilateral treaty on service of process.

The
Department of Justice of the United States of America has informed the
Department of State that it is delegating the service of process function to a
private contractor, Process Forwarding International of Seattle in the State of
Washington.This procedural change does
imply the formal designation of a new Central Authority for either the Hague
Service Convention or the Inter-America Convention on Letters Rogatory, but
simply reflects the outsourcing of certain activities conducted by the Central
Authority, which formally remains the U.S. Department of Justice.

Process
Forwarding International will be the only private process server company
authorized to act on behalf of the United States to receive requests for
service, proceed to serve the documents, and complete the certificate of
service.Process Forwarding
International will be responsible for executing requests for service of process
in the following areas:the United
States (the fifty states and the District of Columbia), Guam, American Samoa,
Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands.

Personal service will be the preferred method used
on all requests.In the event personal
service is impossible to effect, Process Forwarding International will serve
process by such other method or methods as may be permitted under the law of
the jurisdiction.In addition, Process
Forwarding International is required to complete service of documents for
return to the foreign requesting authority within six weeks of receipt.

Beginning
June 1, 2003, requests for service of process should be transmitted to Process
Forwarding International, 910 5^th Avenue, Seattle, Washington, 98104
USA, telephone:(206) 521-2979: Fax:
206-224-3419; Email: info[at]hagueservice[dot]net:
Website: http://www.hagueservice.net.Requests for service must be transmitted in
duplicate with an appropriate translation (one set will be served and the other
will be returned by Process Forwarding International with a certificate of
service).The full name and the street
address for the person or entity to be served must be included.

There
will be a fee for service of process requests from any foreign entity,
including countries party to the Hague and countries not party to any
multilateral treaty on service of process.No fee will be charged for requests under the Inter-American Convention
on Letters Rogatory and Additional Protocol as the United States agreed to
no-fee services on accession to the Convention.The service fees for requests under the Hague

Service
Convention and requests from countries not party to any treaty on service of
process are:

2003– Personal service or service by mail $89.00

2004 - Personal service or service by mail $91.00

2005 - Personal service or service by mail $93.00

2006-2007- Personal service or service by mail $95.00

Payment
of fees may be made by Visa, Mastercard, most international credit cards, bank
transfers, international money orders and government-issued checks payable to
Process Forwarding International.Personal checks are not accepted.All service requests must comply with the payment schedule and method of
payment described.All service requests
unaccompanied by proper payment in the matter indicated will be returned
without processing.The website for
Process Forwarding International provides specific guidance on methods of
payment.It will also be possible to
check on the status of a service request on the website.

Requests
received by the United States during the thirty days prior to the effective
date of the new arrangement will be forwarded to Process Forwarding
International for service free of charge.All pending requests for service received prior to the effective date
will continue to be processed by the U.S. Department of Justice. Requests received
on or after June 1, 2003, will be sent to Process Forwarding International,
where they may be rejected for non-compliance with the new fee requirement.

Countries
not party to the Hague or Inter-American Conventions on service of documents
may continue to send requests for service through the diplomatic channel, but
they must be accompanied by the fee noted above.These requests will be sent to Process Forwarding International
for further handling.It should be
noted, however, that use of the diplomatic channel is not obligatory, and countries
not party to these service Conventions may prefer to send their requests and
receive their certificate of service directly from Process Forwarding
International.The outsourcing of these
activities formerly provided by the U.S.II
Department of Justice will increase efficiency.The Department of State therefore encourages
all countries to avoid the use of the diplomatic channel for routine matters
and take advantage directly of the new procedures.

The
Secretary of State notes that there is no requirement under U.S. federal law
that requests for judicial assistance be referred to the Department of State or
the Department of Justice’s contractor for execution.The United

States has no
objection to the informal delivery of such documents by members of diplomatic
or consular missions in the United States, through the mails or by private
persons if that would be effective under applicable law, provided no compulsion
is used.

Department of State,

Washington,

June 4, 2003