ENGLAND & WALES Law and Practice Contributed by: James Herring, Nathalie Allen and David Wigg, Addleshaw Goddard
while that challenge is outstanding). Such chal - lenges may involve: (a) an appeal of the judgment; (b) an application to set aside judgment on the basis that the defendant was not in attendance at the hearing; or (c) an application to set aside judgment obtained in default. Challenging the Method of Enforcement Such challenges often take place on the basis that there are questions over the ownership of the asset against which enforcement is sought and/or that undue prejudice will be caused to the judgment debtor if that method of enforcement is allowed. 2.6 Unenforceable Domestic Judgments A judgment by the courts of England and Wales requiring a defendant to pay a sum of money or to act in a certain way is a form of judgment that can be enforced by the courts of England and Wales (subject, of course, to any challenges to enforcement). While a judgment for declaratory relief cannot itself be enforced (on the basis that there is no action to enforce), in practice it may be possible to enforce it if a party acts contrary to the declaration. As discussed above, this would usually mean starting new proceed - ings based on the court’s declaration, and enforcing the judgment in those proceedings. 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 Con - vention, to which the EU is party along with Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, but the EU has rejected the UK’s accession (the agreement of all parties 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) (“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.
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