MACAU SAR, CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: João Nuno Riquito, Bruno Almeida and Daniel de Senna Fernandes, Riquito Advogados
3.4 Initial Complaint A lawsuit is initiated by submitting a statement of claim ( petição inicial ), which identifies the court where the action is filed, the parties (including their names and domicile) and the adopted form of proceeding. The statement of claim describes the facts and legal grounds of the claim, the plaintiff’s request(s) and tax value. At this stage, the plaintiff should append all fact-supporting documents to the statement of claims, present the list of witnesses and request other evidence to be produced. The party can submit additional statements ( articulado superveniente ) if any ulterior fact constitutes, modifies or extinguishes the rights in discussion. 3.5 Rules of Service Typically, when no grounds for preliminary rejection of statement of claim are found, the defendant will be summoned by means of double-registered mail, or through their attorney or another judicial representa- tive, per request of the plaintiff. If delivery of the mail is unsuccessful, summoning will be made directly by the court clerk before the defend- ant. If the defendant’s location is unclear, summoning will take place by means of edicts and announcements, which will be drafted in the presumed language of the defendant, or in the Macau SAR official languages. A party can be sued outside the jurisdiction, in which case the court shall summon the defendant as per international conventions applicable to the Macau SAR. If none is applicable, the defendant will be sum- moned by double-registered mail. If it is not possible to summon the defendant by post, they will be sum- moned by rogatory letter (which shall be served with the assistance of the courts of the country of resi-
rights or entitlements (eg, lease rents, interest or divi- dends) a shorter statute of five years applies. There is a special set of statutes, the lapse of which does not prevent the plaintiff from bringing the claim to court but renders the performance of the relevant obligation as presumed. This presumption is only waived with the confession of the non-performance of the obligation by the debtor. In general, these stat- utes are six months (for credits held by housing, food and beverage businesses and for payments related to housing, food and beverages only) or two years (for credits held by self-employed professionals, for example). 3.3 Jurisdictional Requirements for a Defendant The general factors that determine the competence of the Macau SAR courts for a civil suit are: • some or all of the facts that substantiate the claim involve actions that were performed in the Macau SAR; • the defendant is a non-resident and the plaintiff a resident, but only if, in abstract terms, the courts of the defendant’s country of residency would be competent to judge similar proceedings if they were started in that jurisdiction by the defendant against the plaintiff; and • the right or entitlement being claimed can only be effective by means of legal action started in the Macau SAR, provided that there is a strong con- nection between the proceedings and the jurisdic- tion, in terms of the people or the assets involved. The Macau SAR courts’ competence for certain types of actions is subject to other prerequisites (eg, they are competent for proceedings for the recovery of debts if the obligation is to be performed in the Macau SAR or the defendant is domiciled in the Macau SAR). The Macau SAR courts have exclusive competence to try legal proceedings, in respect of erga omnes rights, over real estate located in the Macau SAR and in respect of the bankruptcy or insolvency of entities that have their registered office in the Macau SAR.
dence of the defendant). 3.6 Failure to Respond
If the defendant does not respond to a lawsuit, nor retain attorneys or intervene in any form in the pro- ceedings, the court shall first verify if the summons was carried out in accordance with the legal rules. The
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