TAIWAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Yafen Lin, Peng-Kwang Chen, I-Ming Chen and Weiyu Chiang, Formosa Transnational
Reciprocity If the courts of a foreign jurisdiction will not recognise Taiwan court judgments, Taiwan will not enforce judg - ments issuing from the courts of that jurisdiction. In view of its contested political status, Taiwan may not always be able to enter into treaties with other countries to establish the principle of reciprocity in the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Therefore, Taiwanese courts tend to relax the require - ment of reciprocity when it comes to recognition of foreign judgments. In a 2013 judgment, the Taiwan Supreme Court held that Taiwanese courts should take the initiative to recognise judgments from a given foreign jurisdiction so long as the foreign jurisdiction does not expressly refuse to recognise the validity of the judgment made by the Taiwanese court. In other words, the Supreme Court has directed the lower courts to take a liberal view of reciprocity. Moreover, in a 2021 judgment, the Taiwan Supreme Court further clarified that mutual recognition in this context does not refer to mutual state recognition by Taiwan and another state under international law, but rather refers to reciprocity in mutual recognition of judgments between courts. If the foreign jurisdiction’s laws or courts do not expressly refuse to recognise the validity of Taiwanese judgments, Taiwan courts should be as lenient as possible and take the initiative to recognise the validity of the other jurisdiction’s judgment based on the principle of reciprocity. 3.4 Process of Enforcing Foreign Judgments Vietnamese and Chinese Judgments As the Cross-Strait Relations Act does not specify how to determine the jurisdiction for the procedure of recognising a Chinese judgment, the Taiwan Supreme Court ruled in 1999 that the Taiwan Code of Civil Pro - cedure shall apply by analogy. In principle, the credi - tor shall petition the court located in the place of the debtor’s domicile for recognising titles from China. Titles from Vietnam have similar issues as stated above. However, there is no precedent on the deter - mination of the jurisdiction for procedures to recog - nise a Vietnamese judgment. It is understood that the reasoning adopted by the Taiwan Supreme Court in the aforementioned 1999 judgment will also apply to a Vietnamese judgment.
Judgments From Other Jurisdictions As elaborated in the preceding paragraphs, to enforce a foreign judgment, one must first file a lawsuit to the district court for permission to enforce. Pursuant to Article 4-1 (2) of the Compulsory Enforcement Act, the competent court that shall approve the enforce - ment of a foreign judgment reward shall be the court located in the place of the debtor’s domicile. Where the debtor has no domicile within Taiwanese territory, a creditor is entitled to bring such suit before the court where the object to be enforced is located or where the enforcement action shall be performed. Appeal and Re-appeal If the court considers that the prerequisites as set forth in 3.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Foreign Judgments are met (in the case of titles rendered from Vietnam and China) or the non-recog - nition circumstances as set forth in 3.3 Categories of Foreign Judgments Not Enforced do not exist (in the case of titles rendered from other jurisdictions), the court will deliver the judgment in favour of the creditor to recognise/enforce such foreign titles. However, the losing party in the recognition of a for - eign judgment/permission of enforcement suit may appeal, and the losing party in the appellate court may further re-appeal. The creditor will not be able to initiate compulsory enforcement proceedings until the judgment of recognition/enforcement becomes bind - ing and final (ie, unappealable). 3.5 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Foreign Judgments Costs Judgments from China To apply for recognition of a Chinese judgment before a Taiwanese court, the petitioner must first pay the district court a non-litigation fee ranging from NTD500 (USD17) to NTD5,000 (USD170), depending on the amount of the claim(s). If the losing party decides to appeal or re-appeal, a fee of NTD1,000 (USD34) will be additionally charged by each appellate court. Judgments from other jurisdictions To apply for enforcement of a foreign judgment award in Taiwan, the plaintiff must first pay the Taiwanese court a litigation fee of approximately 1.1% of the
501 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook