DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Johannes Hedegaard and Tobias Bøgh, Bruun & Hjejle
will provide assistance to the court in accordance with Section 498 of the Danish Administration of Justice Act. 2.5 Challenging Enforcement of Domestic Judgments Challenging Enforcement by Ordinary Appeal In accordance with Section 480 of the Danish Admin - istration of Justice Act, a judgment may be enforced after the expiry of the time limit for enforcement unless the judgment has been appealed before. Consequent - ly, a defendant may challenge the enforcement of a judgment by appealing the judgment itself. The time limit for enforcement is 14 days, unless the judgment stipulates otherwise. The period allowed for appeal is usually four weeks, unless otherwise stated in the judgment. However, an appeal may be permitted until one year after the delivery of the judg - ment where the appeal court deems it appropriate. An appeal after four weeks is rare, however. In the event that the judgment is appealed after the expiry of the time limit for enforcement, the defend - ant may request the court to which the judgment is appealed to issue a stay of enforcement. An application for reopening a case where the court has issued a judgment in default has the same effect as an appeal with regards to enforcement. Challenging Enforcement Before the Bailiff’s Court In accordance with Section 501 (1) of the Danish Administration of Justice Act, if objections are raised against the basis for enforcement and it is found, according to the limited evidence that can be pre - sented before the bailiff’s court, that the enforcement of the judgment is questionable, the bailiff’s court may refuse to enforce the judgment. An objection could, for instance, be that the claim has ceased to exist, for example, due to the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations for claims established by a judgment or an arbitral award is ten years for claims subject to Danish law. As a general rule, objections pertaining to the cor - rectness of the judgment may not be raised during enforcement proceedings (see the Danish Administra -
tion of Justice Act). This is understood to mean the judgment’s substantive correctness in relation to the court’s factual and legal assessment. Nonetheless, the bailiff’s court is empowered to ascertain whether the judgment in question has been issued by a duly constituted court and whether the defendant has been lawfully served. In addition, the bailiff’s court must examine whether the judgment is enforceable according to its content, and whether it has been drawn up in legal form. The interrelationship between the courts precludes the bailiff’s court from examining whether the procedural rules set forth in the Danish Administration of Justice Act have been complied with by the court that has issued the judg - ment, including whether the court had subject-matter or territorial jurisdiction. In accordance with Section 502 of the Danish Admin - istration of Justice Act, the bailiff’s court may stay enforcement if one of the following conditions are met: • the judgment sought to be enforced has been appealed after the time limit for enforcement has expired; • a legal relationship, the determination of which may influence the outcome as to whether the request for enforcement should be met, is being processed by a court or an administrative authority – eg, con - cerning a counterclaim between the same parties; or • other special circumstances apply. In general, it is difficult for a debtor to resist enforce - ment of a judgment issued by a Danish court that has become enforceable. 2.6 Unenforceable Domestic Judgments Under Danish law, declaratory judgments cannot be enforced directly. Further, a judgment cannot be enforced if it is so vague or contradictory that the bail - iff’s court is unable to ascertain with certainty what is to be enforced. Please also refer to section 2.1 Types of Domestic Judgments . 2.7 Register of Domestic Judgments A publicly accessible register comprising all judg - ments in Denmark does not currently exist. A selec -
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