If the Defendant is located in a country that is not a signatory to the Hague Convention, such as Indonesia, then Letter Rogatorys are the customary means of obtaining judicial assistance from foreign courts. More simply, Letter Rogatorys are requests from courts in one country to the courts of another country requesting the performance of an act such as service of process. As a general rule, parties must go through the formal channels of Letter Rogatorys to effect proper service and proper jurisdiction in order to obtain an enforceable judgment recognized by a foreign court.
Letter Rogatorys may sound simple, but, in practice, they require careful attention to detail and can be time-consuming and costly. Letter Rogatorys are customarily transmitted by way of diplomatic channels, which may take a year or more. Additionally, the current fee for Letter Rogatorys through the U.S. Department of State is $2,275, not including any fees that may be required for copying, translating, mailing and/or retaining a private process server to handle service. See 22 CFR 22.1 Schedule of Fees.
If the Plaintiff effects service of process outside of Letter Rogatorys or without the aid of a foreign court, then service of process will likely be ineffective and the foreign court is unlikely to recognize jurisdiction necessary to enforce a judgment. However, going through informal channels may still prove to be effective, such as contacting a local attorney in the foreign jurisdiction. By pursuing informal channels of service, the time and cost involved may be dramatically reduced by transmitting a copy of the request through that attorney. By way of anecdotal experience, the co-author's (Nathan Koneru) firm which is located in Houston, Texas, USA had two defective products lawsuits against a multinational French tyre company and its Indonesian tyre manufacturing partner. The lawsuits had been at a standstill for over five years because the firm could not get the Indonesian manufacturer properly served with process via Letter Rogatorys. The process required the firm to get an order from a Texas judge authorizing service by Letter Rogatorys. After obtaining the Texas judge's authorization, the firm then had to mail the letter to the U.S. Department of State. The U.S. Department of State was then responsible for mailing the letter to the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA). Upon receipt of the letter, the MoFA was responsible for serving the Letter Rogatorys upon the Defendant Indonesian manufacturer. However, after several years and thousands of dollars, the Letter Rogatorys was never served upon the Defendant as a result of the inefficiencies of bureaucracy and the Hague Convention.
After two failed attempts to serve the Defendant through formal channels, the firm chose to pursue service of process through informal channels by contacting a local attorney in Jakarta. In Texas, a Texas court will recognize jurisdiction and effective service of process if the service complies with the local rules of Indonesia. See Tex. R. Civ. P. 108(a)(1) (providing that service of process may be effected on a party in a foreign country if the citation and petition is served as prescribed by the foreign country's law for service in that country.). Accordingly, with the help of such local attorney in Jakarta, the firm was able to serve the Defendant with process and properly establish jurisdiction with the Texas court. As soon as the Texas court recognized proper jurisdiction, both the French tyre company and the Indonesian manufacturer immediately settled the lawsuit.
INDONESIAN REGULATION ON LETTER ROGATORYS
In Indonesia there are 2 (two) legal instrument which mention about Legal Technical Assistance for Civil Case and Letter Rogatory. Below are such legal instrument:
- Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia Number: PRJ/HI/102/02/2018/01 Concerening the Handling of Legal Technical Assistance in Civil Case and Cooperation Agreements between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Supreme Court ("MoU MFA and Supreme Court No PRJ/HI/102/02/2018/01"); and
- Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia Number: PRJ/HI/104/02/2018/01 Concerning Standardization of Rogatorial Letters and Submission of Judicial Documents in Civil Case.
Based on the MoU between Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Indonesia and Supreme Court of Republic of Indonesia No PRJ / HI / 102/02/2018/01, the Letter Rogatory is a request letter from other countries to obtain legal technical assistance in the civil sector including assistance in finding or identifying people, assets, property, obtaining witness statements, documents or other evidence
As explained above, the procedure for sending Rogatory letters often takes a long time due to a layered bureaucratic process. As a result, the examination of the Plaintiff's case on the foreign court was delayed, and the delay in the examination of the Plaintiff's case resulted in delays in legal certainty and justice obtained by the Client. In fact we all are agree that justice delayed is justice denied.
- To bridge the Plaintiff's needs, the foreign law firm collaborated with the local law firm in Indonesia to deliver the Rogatory Letters directly to the Defendant's address. Practically, after such Indonesian local lawyer support them in sending the Letter Rogatorys (Summons) of Foreign Court, such local lawyer must provide a sworn affidavit of service, contains on:
- The identity of such Indonesian local lawyer;
- The background story on this Letter Rogatorys (Summon) delivery request from foreign lawyers;
- The effective explanation on the process of delivery Letter Rogatorys (Summon) to Defendant domicile in  Indonesia;
- The short brief on Indonesian regulations which governing the sending of Letter Rogatorys from foreign courts to Defendant domicile in  Indonesia;
- Description of the person who received such Letter Rogatorys (Summon).
The affidavit of such Indonesian local lawyer must be made in sworn and in front of Indonesian Public Notary. Henceforth, this affidavit will be carried by Plaintiffs attorney as evidence that Rogatory Letters has been received by the Defendant in Indonesia. With the receipt of Rogatory Letters by the Defendant in Indonesia, the examination of the Plaintiff's case conducted in a foreign court outside Indonesia can be carried out.
CLOSING STATEMENTÂ
It is urgent for us to sign an International Law Instrument regarding the standard law procedure of bilateral court summons. This is important to bring certainty for all justice seeker and legal practitioner for the sake of case examination smooth process. Since if the parties does not receive the court summons will cause long term effect for the case. This is also to fulfill the void of laws and rules concerning the delivery of Letter Rogatorys from Foreign Court to Defendant domicile in  Indonesia.
