FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Barbara Levy, Paul Talbourdet and Alison Vogt, De Pardieu Brocas Maffei
January 2023, the Cour de cassation stated that the “exequatur” action itself is not subject to any statute of limitations. If the exequatur is granted, it will be done so by a single judge following the exchange of written plead - ings and a hearing. Parties must be represented by a lawyer. The requesting party must provide a copy of the foreign judgment, together with a translation if needed. The French judge must make sure that the following conditions as set by current French case law are satisfied: • the court that initially rendered the judgment had jurisdiction over the case according to French pri - vate international law rules; • the foreign judgment and its effects do not breach French international public policy; and • the foreign judgment was not procured by fraud. French courts may not review the merits of the foreign judgment. The exequatur may be appealed within one month of being served by one party on the other (or within three months for parties domiciled abroad). Decisions rendered by the jurisdictions of EU member states are enforced in other EU member states follow - ing a simplified regime initially adopted by the Brus - sels Convention of 1968 (1972 OJ (L 299) 32), later superseded by the New Brussels I Regulation, which was itself superseded by the Brussels 1a Regulation, which has been in force since 10 January 2015. According to the Brussels 1a Regulation, once a judg - ment is obtained in any EU member state’s court, it must be readily recognised and enforced throughout the EU. Therefore, the judgment creditor needs only to serve on the judgment debtor a copy of the judgment that satisfies the conditions necessary to establish its authenticity, accompanied by a certificate from the court of origin certifying that the judgment is enforce - able and containing details of the judgment (ie, the issuing court, the names of the judgment creditor and judgment debtor, the date of the judgment, and what the judgment requires to be done) – as well as a trans - lation of the judgment if requested – before enforcing the judgment. The judgment creditor is then entitled to enforce the foreign judgment as if it were a French
judgment, unless the foreign judgment was provision - ally enforceable and the foreign court subsequently suspended its execution. In a judgment rendered on 22 March 2023, the Cour de cassation ruled that this suspension deprived the recognition in France of the enforceability of the judgment of any legal basis. However, the French enforcement authority will adapt any unknown measure or order contained in the for - eign judgment to a domestic legal equivalent, with equivalent legal effects that pursue similar aims and interests. For the purposes of enforcement in an EU member state of a judgment rendered in another member state ordering a provisional measure (including a protective measure), the applicant must serve on the judgment debtor a copy of the judgment and the certificate con - taining details of the judgment (as well as a descrip - tion of the measure) and certifying that the court had jurisdiction over the substance of the matter and that the judgment is enforceable in the member state of origin. Where the measure was ordered without the defendant being summoned to appear, the judgment creditor must also provide proof of service of the judg - ment. As regards the issue of the enforcement of an order of payment, the ECJ stated on 7 April 2022 (C-568/20) that an order for payment ( injonction de payer ) ren - dered in an EU member state constitutes a “judg - ment” under the Brussels 1a Regulation and is there - fore enforceable in other EU member states if it was handed down at the end of adversarial proceedings in the member state of origin and was declared to be enforceable in that member state. Therefore, the fact that it is a “judgment” gives the right to the defendant to enforcement to request refusal of enforcement on one of the grounds referred to in Article 45 of the Brus - sels 1a Regulation, such as the exception of public policy. 3.5 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Foreign Judgments The costs and timeframe for enforcing foreign judg - ments will depend on whether the foreign judgment was given in an EU or non-EU jurisdiction. As previ - ously stated in 3.2 Variations in Approach to Enforce- ment of Foreign Judgments , in the first case, a judg -
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