SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Alfonso López-Ibor, Pablo Henríquez de Luna, Virginia Jover and Pedro Echeguren, López-Ibor Abogados
3. Foreign Judgments 3.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Foreign Judgments The principal legal issues relating to enforcing a for - eign judgment in Spain depend on the foreign country issuing the judgment, as different legal instruments will be applied and, therefore, automatic recognition and enforcement will or will not be applied. Automatic Recognition and Enforcement Without Any Declaration of Enforceability or Exequatur Proceedings for EU Member States (Except Denmark) The general rule is that approval and enforcement are automatic, without any need of an exequatur, accord - ing to Article 36 (recognition), Article 39 (enforcement) and Article 66.2 of EU Regulation No 1215/2012 of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (the “Recast Brussels Regulation”) Chapter III, Sections 1, 2, 3 and 4, notwithstanding a potential opposition to the recognition and enforcement of the judgment on the ground of Article 45 of the Recast Brussels Regulation. For the recognition and enforcement of judgments on specific matters not included in the scope of the Recast Brussels Regulation, the following EU Regu - lations will apply aside from international treaties to which Spain is a signatory: • Regulation 2201/2003 of 27 November 2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial mat - ters and matters of parental responsibility (except Denmark); • Regulation 4/2009 of 18 December 2008 on juris - diction, applicable law, recognition and enforce - ment of decisions and co-operation in matters relating to maintenance obligations; • Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 of 4 July 2012 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions, and acceptance and enforcement of authentic instruments in matters of succession and on the creation of a European Certificate of Succession (except Denmark, Ireland and the UK);
• Regulation 805/2004 of 21 April 2004 creating a European Enforcement Order for uncontested claims; and • Regulation 848/2015 of 20 May 2015 on insolvency proceedings (except Denmark). Recognition and Enforcement Applicable to Third Countries That Are Not Members of the EU In this context, the following treaties are worth men - tioning. • The Lugano Convention 2007: automatic recogni - tion, but enforcement still requires the initiation of any declaration of enforceability or exequatur pro - ceedings (the Lugano Convention is applicable to Norway, Iceland and Switzerland; for Liechtenstein, Lugano 1988 is still applicable). • Convention No 16 on the recognition and enforce - ment of foreign judgments in civil and commercial matters of the Hague Conference on Private Inter - national Law (HCCH). This relates to countries that are not EU member states nor Lugano members but are signatories of this convention. • Bilateral international treaties between Spain and a foreign country. • Domestic Law 29/2015 on international legal co- operation in civil matters (the “Legal Co-operation Act”), Title V, Articles 41 to 61, in the absence of the foregoing items. • The Civil Procedural Rules Act 2000, Chapter II (Article 523 of the “CPR Act”). The United Kingdom Since the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, the Recast Brussels Regulation and the other European regulations mentioned above no longer apply for the recognition and enforcement of UK judg - ments in Spain. Since 1 January 2021 onwards, the recognition and enforcement of UK judgments will no longer have the benefit of a direct recognition and enforcement pro - cess. Joining the Lugano Convention 2007 was an alternative for the UK due to its similar advantages of quasi-automatic recognition and enforcement of judgments that were applicable between EU mem - ber states at the time under the Brussels I Regulation 44/2001.
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