ENGLAND & WALES Law and Practice Contributed by: James Herring, Nathalie Allen and David Wigg, Addleshaw Goddard
resent the foreign court’s last word on the merits. It is also not possible as a matter of English law to enforce judgments from foreign courts in relation to taxes, fines or penalties. 3.4 Process of Enforcing Foreign Judgments The European Regime and the Lugano Convention For the small number of judgments that fall under the Recast Brussels Regulation, the process for creating a judgment that can be enforced is administrative, usu - ally with no judicial involvement. An exception to this is where there is an ongoing appeal by the judgment debtor. A party seeking enforcement must produce a certi - fied copy of the judgment to be enforced, together with a certificate issued by the court of origin stat - ing that the judgment is enforceable (Article 53 of the Recast Brussels Regulation). Translations into English are also required by the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR 74.4). There is no need to register the judgment, but the judgment must be served on the judgment debt - or before the first domestic enforcement measure is taken. For judgments that fall under the Brussels 2001 or Lugano regimes, a judicial order registering the judg - ment must first be obtained before domestic enforce - ment action can take place. An application must be made to the High Court for an order that the judgment be registered. An authenticated copy of the judgment is required, with a standard form certificate that it is enforceable under the law of the state of origin. The courts also require notarised translations into English and written evidence in support of the application (the evidence required varies depending on which regime applies). No notice of the application to register needs to be given to the judgment debtor. Hague Convention 2005 and Hague Judgments Convention 2019 For judgments falling within the Hague Convention 2005 or Hague Judgments Convention 2019, an appli - cation must be made for registration in the same way as set out in the previous paragraph. The evidence required in support of the application is set out in Arti - cle 13 of the Hague Convention 2005 and Article 12 of the Hague Judgments Convention 2019. No notice
of the application to register needs to be given to the judgment debtor. Statutory Regimes Judgments falling under the AJA 1920 or the 1933 Act must also be registered. The 1933 Act prescribes in more detail than the AJA 1920 what evidence is required to support the application. The requirements for applications under both Acts are set out in the Civil Procedure Rules at CPR 74.4. There are strict time limits. Post-Registration Requirements – European, Lugano, Hague Conventions and Statutory Regimes In all cases where a foreign judgment is registered, the order giving permission to register must be served on the judgment debtor. It must include: • the full details of the judgment registered; • the name of the creditor and their address for service; • the right of the debtor to apply to set the registra - tion aside or to appeal, depending on which regime applies; and • the period within which a challenge, if any, must be made and state that no enforcement measures may be taken until the end of that period (other than protective measures). Common Law Enforcement – Where No Other Regime Applies Under the common law, a fresh claim in the courts of England and Wales must be started and a domes - tic judgment obtained before any enforcement can take place. The judgment creditor will usually apply for summary judgment (a form of early determination) in the new domestic proceedings (under Part 24 of the Civil Procedure Rules), on the grounds that the defendant’s liability has already been decided, so the debtor should have no defence to the claim. In response, the defendant may argue that one of the grounds to challenge recognition applies. These are dealt with in more detail under 3.6 Challenging Enforcement of Foreign Judgments .
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