GERMANY Law and Practice Contributed by: Christian Strasser, Thomas Wambach and Yannick Greimann, HEUKING
ally secures the claim of a creditor who does not yet possess an enforceable title. When a court renders a freezing order in attachment proceedings, the debtor is immediately prohibited from disposing of their assets. The freezing order does not allow the creditor to seize the assets of the debtor. In a follow-up ex parte proceeding, the creditor has to demonstrate in court which assets of the debtor specified by the creditor shall be seized. The seizure can then be executed using separate seizure orders. German procedural law also allows for interim injunc - tions with which a debtor is ordered to perform or refrain from performing a certain action on a pre - liminary basis ( Einstweilige Verfügung ). The injunc - tion itself can be significant as a means of securing enforcement measures. 2. Domestic Judgments 2.1 Types of Domestic Judgments Types of Domestic Judgments German courts have two means of making decisions: court orders and judgments. Court orders Courts can render a court order without the need for an oral hearing to be conducted. Court orders of importance include injunctions and attachment orders, which both allow provisional security for the enforcement. Further, court orders are, eg, orders fix - ing the costs of a court proceeding; these cost-fixing orders are enforceable titles so that the enforcement can be initiated from them immediately. Court judgments Unlike court orders, court judgments are only rendered after an oral hearing. An oral hearing will also occur if the defendant has not indicated a defence or fails to appear at the oral hearing. Unless an appeal is filed in time, the judgment rendered upon such default of the defendant constitutes an enforceable final judgment. Generally, German civil procedure only provides for the enforcement of performance judgments. These judgments may contain a performance order relating
to the performance of a payment or a defensible or indefensible act. Enforcement and its requirements depend on the performance that is to be enforced. In contrast, declaratory judgments cannot be enforced under German civil procedure law; however, the deci - sion on the costs of such a declaratory judgment can be enforced once a cost order has been issued by the court. Other Enforceable Titles An enforceable title can also be created in the summa - ry proceedings for a payment order ( Mahnverfahren ) pursuant to Section 688 et seq of the Code of Civil Procedure ( Zivilprozessordnung or ZPO). However, the creditor can only opt for such a procedure if the debtor owes them a sum of money in euros and no consid - eration is owed in reverse (cf Section 688 of ZPO). The procedure for a payment order is standardised and inexpensive and can swiftly lead to an enforce - able title. For this purpose, the creditor must fill out a pre-prepared online application to send to the central default action court ( zentrales Mahngericht ). There is no review of the substance, but a purely formal review takes place. The debtor is then served with a payment order by the enforcement court. If the debtor does not file an objection within two weeks against this payment order, a writ of execu - tion is issued at the creditor’s request, which already constitutes an enforceable title under Section 794 (1) No 4 of the ZPO. If the debtor does not appeal against this within a further two weeks, the writ of execution becomes final. In addition to the German payment order, the Euro - pean payment order can be a cost-effective and rela - tively quick way to obtain an enforceable title. Just like the summary proceedings for a (German) pay - ment order, the creditor is required to fill out a pre- prepared online application. The Wedding District Court, as the court with exclusive jurisdiction for the European payment order within Germany, will issue the European payment order within 30 days after the submission of a complete application and then serve it upon the defendant. The defendant consequently has the option to file a statement of opposition within
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