TAIWAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Yafen Lin, Peng-Kwang Chen, I-Ming Chen and Weiyu Chiang, Formosa Transnational Attorneys at Law
Judgments from other jurisdictions To apply for enforcement of a foreign judgment award in Taiwan, the plaintiff must first pay the Taiwanese court a litigation fee of approximately 1.1% of the amount awarded by the foreign judgment before the proceedings begin. If the losing party decides to appeal, a fee of approximately 1.65% of the amount awarded by the foreign judgment will be charged by the appellate court. If the party that paid the litigation fees eventually obtains a final and irrevocable judgment for enforce - ment of the foreign award in its favour, that party may further request the opposing party to compensate the winning party for the litigation fees charged by the court. In general, Taiwan follows the American rule for lawyer fees. Each party pays for the legal fees that it incurs and cannot recover such fees from the other party except for a small portion at the Supreme Court. Time There are no official statistics on the time required to enforce a foreign judgment. Proceedings for recogni - tion and/or enforcement of a foreign judgment usually take about two to three months if the respondent does not contest the application. 3.6 Challenging Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Common Arguments Because recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment (whether rendered by a Vietnamese court, a Chinese court or a court of another foreign jurisdiction) requires observance of due process, common argu - ments raised by a debtor (ie, the losing defendant in the proceedings that produced the foreign judgment) include the following: • the debtor’s procedural rights were not protected due to a default judgment being rendered in the absence of the participation of the debtor; and • legal documents were not served in the ways required by Taiwanese law. There are Taiwanese judgments holding that the plain - tiff bears the burden of proving either that:
reasoning adopted by the Taiwan Supreme Court in the aforementioned 1999 judgment will also apply to a Vietnamese judgment. Judgments From Other Jurisdictions As noted above, to enforce a foreign judgment, the creditor must first bring an action before the district court for permission to enforce. Pursuant to Article 4-1 (2) of the Compulsory Enforcement Act, the compe - tent court to approve enforcement of a foreign judg - ment shall be the court in the place of the debtor’s domicile. If the debtor has no domicile within Taiwan, the creditor may bring the action before the court where the asset to be enforced is located or where the enforcement measure is to be carried out. Appeal and Re-Appeal If the court finds that the requirements set out in 3.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Foreign Judgments are satisfied (for titles rendered in Viet - nam and China), or that none of the non-recognition grounds described in 3.3 Categories of Foreign Judg- ments Not Enforced are present (for titles rendered in other jurisdictions), it will render judgment in favour of the creditor recognising and/or permitting enforce - ment of the foreign title. However, the losing party in an action for recognition of, or permission to enforce, a foreign judgment may appeal, and the losing party on appeal may further appeal to the court of final instance. The creditor can - not initiate compulsory enforcement proceedings until the judgment recognising and/or permitting enforce - ment has become final and binding. 3.5 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Foreign Judgments Costs Judgments from China To apply for recognition of a Chinese judgment before a Taiwanese court, the petitioner must first pay the district court a non-litigation fee ranging from TWD500 (USD17) to TWD5,000 (USD170), depending on the amount of the claim(s). If the losing party decides to appeal or re-appeal, a fee of TWD1,000 (USD34) will be additionally charged by each appellate court.
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