SAUDI ARABIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Omar Alrasheed, Ghaleb Alqahtany, Muaath Al-Marashi and Hussam Al-Ghamdi, Omar Alrasheed Law Firm
2.5 Challenging Enforcement of Domestic Judgments Challenging the enforcement of a domestic judgment could involve either a form-related aspect or a sub - stantive-related aspect. A defendant may challenge the enforcement by the following methods: • Form-related enforcement dispute: The defendant challenges the formal aspect of the enforcement document or procedure, for example, the non-ful - filment of a formal requirement of the enforcement document, forgery of the enforcement document or instrument, or denial of the signature. • Substance-related enforcement dispute: The defendant challenges the substantive aspect of an enforcement procedure, for example, discharge, postponement, action or settlement after the issu - ance of the enforcement document, set-off based on an enforcement document, and/or that the seized assets exceed the amount of the claimed debt. 2.6 Unenforceable Domestic Judgments No domestic judgment is enforceable unless: • the rendered judgment is final and not challenge - able (either because the period of appeal has expired or because the higher court affirmed the lower court’s judgment), and the judgment instru - ment contains the enforcement formula; or • the judgment is a self-executing judgment, or if self-execution is provided under relevant laws and regulations. 2.7 Register of Domestic Judgments Unlike the registers for bankruptcy, intellectual prop - erty or franchise agreements, there is no central reg - ister for domestic judgments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 3. Foreign Judgments 3.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Under the Enforcement Law and its Implementing Regulations, foreign judgments are recognised and enforceable upon the satisfaction of the principle of
nature of the debt, the amount owed and the nature of the debtor (whether a natural or legal person). How - ever, the following sets out the general range of costs and time a judgment will take to be enforced. Costs Costs involved in enforcing a judgment include: • Judicial fees: The judicial fee for an immediate enforcement motion is SAR500, and 2% of the claimed amount with respect to other enforce - ment motions. In any case, the fee is not less than SAR500 and not more than SAR10,000. Further - more, other small amounts are imposed in certain instances, such as a fee of SAR100 for a motion filed by an interested person to obtain a certi - fied copy of the case papers or records, a fee of SAR50 for a motion filed by an interested person to access the case papers, and a fee of SAR100 for a replacement copy of a judicial document. • Custodian of attached property fees: The cus - todian fee is estimated based on the quantum meruit (ie, reasonable sum). It varies based on the attached property in custody. Time The time needed to enforce a judgment varies based on whether the debtor has sufficient money to satisfy the debt owed. If so, the time needed for the satisfac - tion of a debt should take no more than one month. However, if the debtor does not satisfy the debt vol - untarily, and compulsory proceedings have been ini - tiated against the debtor, the process to collect the debt could take significantly longer in the case of an insolvent debtor. As mentioned in 2.2 Enforcement of Domestic Judg- ments , after the debtor fails to voluntarily satisfy the debt owed within the five-day period, the enforcement judge will initiate the compulsory enforcement proce - dure against the debtor. This procedure includes the disclosure and determination of the debtor’s assets, which will later be subject to attachment and sale at auction. 2.4 Post-Judgment Procedures for Determining Defendants’ Assets
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