Q. What Is the Difference Between Member and Non-Member Countries of the Hague?

According to the FAQs Is it possible to become a Party to a Hague Convention without being a Member of the Hague Conference?, What is the difference between the "Hague Conference" and the "Hague Conventions"? and What is the difference between signing, ratifying and acceding to a Hague Convention? found on the HCCH Web site, I found the following information.

"The Hague Conference on Private International Law is an intergovernmental organization, the purpose of which is "to work for the progressive unification of the rules of private international law" (Article 1 of the Statute of the Hague Conference)." The treaties themselves are called "Hague Conventions".

It is possible for countries that are not members of the Hague Conference to be a party to an Hague Convention. The Seventeenth Session, Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, is open by means of signature and ratification by all States that participated in this Convention. Others States wishing to become a Party to a Hague Convention may accede. This, however, is only possible once the Convention has entered into force.

The FAQs also stated that the signing of the Hague Convention does not mean that that state is obligated to take further action towards ratifying or not. It simply means that it intends to become a party to the convention. The U.S. signed the Convention in 1994, was ratified on December 12, 2007, and will be go into force on April 1, 2008.

There are also countries that are not a party to the Hague Conference or the Hague Convention, such as Russia, the Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.

As of February 26, 2008, there are 75 countries that have joined the Hague Convention on Adoption.