ENGLAND & WALES Law and Practice Contributed by: James Herring, Nathalie Allen and David Wigg, Addleshaw Goddard
2.7 Register of Domestic Judgments The Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines for Eng - land & Wales is a central register of judgments. County Court and High Court judgments stay on the register for six years but can be removed from the register if they are set aside or if the judgment debtor pays within one month. If the judgment debtor pays after one month, the judgment can be marked “satisfied”. 3. Foreign Judgments 3.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Following the end of the Brexit transition period (the “Brexit TP”) on 31 December 2020, there remain mul - tiple regimes for the enforcement of foreign civil and commercial judgments in England and Wales; the enforcement of judgments from Scotland and North - ern Ireland is governed by the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 and is outside the scope of this Global Practice Guide. The judgment’s state of origin, the date the underlying proceedings were issued, the date of the judgment and the subject matter of the judgment will determine which regime applies. The terms of the UK’s relationship with the EU at the end of the Brexit TP contained no provision for civil judicial co-operation, and there is currently no civil procedure convention specific to the UK and EU gov - erning the legal basis for enforcing judgments from EU states in the UK. The UK formally applied to accede to the Lugano Convention, to which the EU is party, along with Ice - land, Norway and Switzerland; however, the EU has rejected the UK’s accession (the agreement of all par - ties to the Convention is required for the accession of a new state). The “European Regime” and the Lugano Convention The European regime for judgments given in proceed - ings issued in EU member states before 31 December 2020 (the “European Regime”) remains applicable to the enforcement of judgments in the UK only where the proceedings that led to the judgment were com - menced in an EU member state before the end of the
Brexit TP (Article 67 of the UK/EU withdrawal agree - ment). The regime comprises two (very slightly) differ - ent instruments: • the Brussels Regulation 2001 (EU 44/2001) (“Brus - sels 2001”), for claims issued up to 9 January 2015; and • the Brussels Regulation (recast) (EU 1215/2012) (the “Recast Brussels Regulation”), for claims issued from 10 January 2015. It is no longer possible to enforce foreign judgments in England and Wales using either of these regimes in respect of underlying proceedings started after the Brexit TP. There is no agreement between the UK and the non- EU Lugano Convention states (Norway, Iceland and Switzerland) about the continuing application of the Lugano Convention after the end of the Brexit TP to proceedings issued before it ended. However, with effect from 31 December 2020, national, unilateral, UK regulations provide for the continued application in the UK of that convention to the enforcement of judg - ments from those three states in proceedings issued before the end of the Brexit TP. The Hague Choice of Court Convention 2005 (the “Hague Convention 2005”) This Convention provides for the recognition and enforcement of judgments based on exclusive choice- of-court agreements concluded on or after 1 October 2015 (or the date of accession of the relevant con - tracting state, if later), conferring jurisdiction on a con - tracting state. As of June 2026, the Hague Convention 2005 contracting states are:
• Albania; • Bahrain; • EU member states; • Mexico; • Moldova; • Monaco; • Montenegro; • North Macedonia; • Singapore; • Switzerland;
150 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook