MALTA Law and Practice Contributed by: Antoine Cremona, Clement Mifsud-Bonnici and Chiara Frendo, Ganado Advocates
simple interest per annum. In commercial matters, this runs from the date the debt was due, and there - fore before the judgment is entered. However, interest should only accrue from the date of judgment where the damages were not quantified at the time the claim was filed and were only quantified during the proceed- ings or as determined by the court in its judgment. Commercial debts are also subject to default interest under Directive 2011/7/EU on combating late pay- ment in commercial transactions (recast) (Late Pay- ment Directive), as applied through the Maltese Com- mercial Code (Chapter 13 of the laws of Malta). 9.4 Enforcement Mechanisms of a Domestic Judgment The court can give various orders for enforcement, including: • the issuance of warrants/executive acts, includ- ing some of the warrants mentioned in 4.1 Interim Applications/Motions – it is also possible to issue an executive warrant of seizure of an immovable property; and • judicial sale by auction to recover the payment due, costs of the procedure, and interest. 9.5 Enforcement of a Judgment From a Foreign Country In cases where a judgment delivered by the courts of another EU member state is being enforced in Mal- ta, the procedure is regulated by Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012. In these cases, recognition is automatic, and enforcement can take place immediately with the filing of any executive measures. Enforcement meas- ures will be served upon the judgment debtor, who will then have the opportunity to file an application before the First Hall of the Civil Court, raising any of the grounds of objection to the enforcement of the foreign judgment contained in the aforementioned regulation. Any eventual judgment will be subject to appeal. In cases where a judgment delivered by the courts of an EEA/EFTA (European Economic Area/Euro- pean Free Trade Association) member state is being enforced in Malta, the procedure is regulated by the Convention on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial
matters – the so-called Lugano Convention. This will require the party demanding recognition and enforce- ment to file in the First Hall Civil Court: • an application containing such demands; • a copy of the judgment (accompanied by a certi- fied translated copy); and • a recognition and enforcement order issued by the court registrar of the EEA/EFTA member state of origin (also accompanied by a translated copy). The court will recognise and enforce that judgment without a trial if all these requirements are satisfied. The judgment debtor does have remedies to chal- lenge that judgment, but this first demand will not require the judgment debtor to make submissions. The judgment debtor is permitted to challenge the recognition and enforcement of such a judgment by lodging a separate and subsequent appeal application before the appellate courts within one month, accord- ing to the case, from the delivery of the judgment at first instance. In cases where a judgment delivered by the courts of a non-EU and non-EEA/EFTA member state (third country) is being enforced in Malta, the procedure is regulated by the Code of Organisation and Civil Pro- cedure. A foreign judgment that is final and binding, and has been delivered by a competent court outside of Malta, will first need to be registered. Such registra- tion requires the filing of an application before the First Hall of the Civil Court. Proceedings involve the judg- ment debtor, who will have the opportunity to raise any of the grounds for objection to the registration of the foreign judgment contained in the aforementioned Code, such grounds being far wider than those con- tained in the EU Regulation. Once registered and rec- ognised, the foreign judgment may then be executed locally in the same manner as other local judgments. However, in cases where a judgment has been deliv- ered by a court outside of the European Union or EEA/ EFTA, on the basis of an exclusive choice of court agreement by the courts of a Contracting State to the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements, then the enforcing judgment creditor has the choice to proceed with recognition and enforcement of that judgment in Malta pursuant to the procedure laid
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