SERBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Aleksandar Ristić and Stefan Šilobad, Law Office Miroslav Stojanović
2.2 Enforcement of Domestic Judgments Instigation of Enforcement Proceedings A prerequisite for enforcement under Serbian law is the existence of an enforceable title, or a self-authen - ticated document ( verodostojna isprava ). Pursuant to the LES, enforceable titles under Serbian law include (inter alia): • final court decisions (ie, rulings and judgments) or court settlements ordering the performance or non- performance of a certain action; • mortgage agreements; • pledge statements; and • other documents prepared in the form of a notarial deed, etc. In contrast, self-authenticated documents include (inter alia): • promissory notes or cheques issued by a domestic or foreign person (accompanied by a protest where required to establish the claim); • invoices issued by a domestic or foreign person (accompanied by a delivery note or other writ - ten proof that the debtor has been notified of the obligation); and • bank guarantees, etc. In order for a judgment to represent an enforceable title under Serbian law, it must be formally confirmed as final and enforceable by the competent court (usu - ally by affixing official stamps on an original copy of the judgment) – ie, certifying that no further appeal is possible against the judgment and that the perfor - mance period stated therein (granted to the defendant to voluntarily comply with the judgment) has expired. Assuming that the judgment constitutes an appropri - ate enforceable title, a creditor may instigate enforce - ment proceedings by filing a motion for enforcement ( predlog za izvršenje ) before the competent author - ity. Ordering the enforcement – ie, the adoption of an enforcement decision – primarily falls within the competence of Serbian courts, while public bailiffs are responsible for carrying out the enforcement activi - ties. There are, however, situations when all enforce - ment-related authorisations (ie, both its ordering and execution) are exclusively granted to either the court
Non-appearance judgment (presuda zbog izostanka, Article 351 LCP) This is a decision granting the claim if the defendant – to whom the claim was not served for the purpose of submitting a formal response to the claim, but was served together with the summons for a hearing – fails to appear at the first scheduled hearing, or if the defendant does appear but refuses to engage in the proceedings and does not contest the claim, provided that: • the defendant was duly summoned to the hearing; • the defendant did not contest the claim by filing a written formal response to it; • the facts on which the claim is based are not con - trary to the evidence submitted by the claimant or to facts that are generally known; • the merits of the claim arise from the facts stated therein; and • there are no generally known circumstances indi - cating that justified reasons prevented the defend - ant from responding to the claim. A judgment by default of appearance is fully enforce - able once it becomes final. Acceptance judgment (presuda na osnovu priznanja, Article 348 LCP) This is a decision granting the claim if the defendant accepts the claim prior to the conclusion of the main hearing. An acceptance judgment is fully enforceable once it becomes final. Waiver judgment (presuda na osnovu odricanja, Article 349 LCP) This is a decision rejecting the claim if the claimant waives its claim prior to the conclusion of the main hearing. The defendant’s consent is not required for such waiver of the claim. Judgments based on waiv - er are unenforceable, except to the extent that they relate to procedural costs. The aforementioned judgments may be adopted only if they do not relate to a matter over which the parties may not freely dispose (eg, defendant did not respond to the claim, yet the claim is obviously in contraven - tion of imperative norms, public policy, moral rules or good practice).
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