EGYPT Law and Practice Contributed by: Amr A Abbas, Ahmed Abdel Hakeem, Khaled Abou El Wafa and Adham Ahmed Saied, Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy
In addition, the court has to ensure that the country in which the judgment was rendered enforces judgments issued by the Egyptian court (reciprocity). The receipt of the enforcement order (an exequatur) is subject to the fulfilment of the recognition procedures under Egyptian law. Application Provisions The application of the above-mentioned requirements and procedures is subject to the provisions of the relevant conventions and treaties to which Egypt is a party. However, if any of these requirements were absent but the applicant feared the loss of their right, it may apply to obtain a precautionary seizure. In any case, it will need to file a writ of enforcement within eight days of enforcing the precautionary seizure. Furthermore, Egypt joined the Al Riyadh Arab Conven - tion for Judicial Cooperation of 6 April 1983. Egypt is also a signatory to certain enforcement conventions, such as the Arab League Convention of 1952 and the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil and Commer - cial Matters of 1965. In addition, Egypt is a member of a number of bilateral treaties concerning judicial enforcement (eg, with France and China), as well as the Legal and Judicial Co-Operation Agreement with the UAE. 3.2 Variations in Approach to Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Subject to the satisfaction of the conditions referred to in 3.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Foreign Judgments , Egyptian law does not differenti - ate between the enforcement of domestic and foreign judgments. Therefore, all types of foreign judgments are subject to the same legal requirements and pro - cedures. 3.3 Categories of Foreign Judgments Not Enforced Subject to the provisions of the relevant enforce - ment conventions or treaties to which Egypt is a party, Egyptian courts do not generally enforce any foreign judgment that is subject to an appeal in the country where the judgment was rendered. Also, the courts will not enforce a foreign judgment if the party or parties concerned was/were not duly notified and
represented in the proceedings, as the lack of proper notification is considered a matter of public policy. Finally, the courts will not enforce a foreign judgment where Egyptian courts have exclusive jurisdiction to decide on a dispute – for example, a dispute involving real estate situated in Egypt. 3.4 Process of Enforcing Foreign Judgments Subject to the application of the relevant conventions and treaties, Egyptian law requires the party seek - ing enforcement of a foreign judgment to obtain an exequatur. Subject to the recognition and enforce - ment requirements, foreign judgments are enforced in accordance with the same requirements as domestic judgments. A writ of enforcement of a foreign judg - ment should be filed before the competent court of first instance, as per the normal procedure for the ini - tiation of a lawsuit before such courts. In practice, the applicant party submits a bundle of documents, including: • the original version of the foreign judgment along with its official Arabic translation; • a certificate ensuring that the judgment is final according to the laws of the country in which the judgment was rendered; and • a copy of any relevant convention, treaty or agree - ment between the issuing country and Egypt (if any). The request for enforcement is then submitted to the court whose jurisdiction encompasses the place of enforcement. The competent court will render its exequatur without reviewing the merits of the foreign judgment. However, the court must ascertain that the conditions referred to in 3.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Foreign Judgments are fulfilled. Once the exequatur is issued, the applicant must serve it on the defendant. If the defendant does not accept the judgment voluntarily, the applicant may seek compulsory enforcement of the judgment. 3.5 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Foreign Judgments In the absence of any exceptional circumstances, the receipt of an exequatur on a foreign judgment takes
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