ISRAEL Law and Practice Contributed by: Joseph (Yossi) Ashkenazi, Haim Machluf and Roy Schondorf, Herzog Fox & Neeman
The conditions detailed in 3.6 Challenging Enforce- ment of Foreign Judgments shall also apply here. Alternatively, the court may incidentally recognise a foreign judgment in the context of deliberation of a matter under its authority (and only for the sake of the matter under discussion), even if the above conditions are not met. Note that in 2021, Israel signed the Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judg - ments in Civil or Commercial Matters. While Israel has not yet ratified the convention, it is certainly likely that steps will be taken in the near future to incorporate the principles of the Convention within Israel’s domestic legislation. 3.3 Categories of Foreign Judgments Not Enforced Criminal, administrative or fiscal foreign judgments will not be enforced. 3.4 Process of Enforcing Foreign Judgments The procedural requirements for the enforcement of a foreign judgment in Israel encompass the following. • Filing a motion with the Israeli court to declare that a foreign judgment is enforceable. The application must be accompanied by an affidavit to support the facts stated therein. • The respondent may file a response within a specific period of time (according to current civil procedure regulations, 20 days; though extensions are usually liberally granted). If a response is filed, a hearing – likely including an evidentiary hearing – will take place. Otherwise, the court may decide on the motion without a hearing. • Once the court declares the judgment as enforce - able, the judgment may then be enforced via the enforcement mechanisms mentioned in 2. Domes- tic Judgments as if it were issued by an Israeli court. 3.5 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Foreign Judgments Moving to declare a foreign judgment as enforceable in Israel is a relatively straightforward process, entail - ing the payment of legal fees to an Israeli attorney
and payment of court fees (usually several hundred dollars). The timeframe will then depend on how quickly the court deals with the motion and whether the opposing party elects to file a response. If a response objecting to the enforcement is not filed, the process should not take more than three to six months. If an objection is filed, and depending on the nature of the objection (legal, factual or both) and its merits, the process may take a significantly longer period, potentially two to three years. 3.6 Challenging Enforcement of Foreign Judgments A party may challenge an attempt to declare a foreign judgment as enforceable in Israel, by way of proving one of the following. • The judgment was obtained by fraud. • No reasonable opportunity was given to the defendant to present their arguments and to produce their evidence before the judgment was rendered. • The judgment was given by a court that was not competent to render it according to the rules of private international law applied in Israel. A person will not be considered as having submitted to the jurisdiction of the foreign court issuing a judgment against them solely on the basis of presenting one - self in court and: (a) challenging the court’s jurisdiction; (b) arguing for a discontinuance or a stay of the proceedings; and (c) appealing for the release of assets seized or expected to be seized, or other protection thereof. • The judgment contradicts a previous judgment given in the same matter between the same par - ties, which is still valid. • At the time the action was brought before the for - eign court, a suit in the same matter and between the same parties was pending before a court or a tribunal in Israel. • The foreign judgment’s enforcement may prejudice the sovereignty or security of Israel.
246 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook