CHILE Law and Practice Contributed by: Jorge Bofill and César Ramos, Bofill Escobar Silva Abogados
be served is located, in order to proceed with ordering compliance with the required. These communications, called exhortos , repre - sent the principle of delegated competence and are regulated in Articles 71, 75 and 76 of the Chilean Code of Civil Procedures. Depending on the destination of the exhorto , these can be classified as national and interna - tional. In the latter case, the procedure for pro - cessing the exhorto is more complicated, since the Supreme Court and the Ministry of the Inte - rior must intervene. There are no alternative ways or services in addi - tion to the exhorto for carrying out or accelerat - ing the procedure for serving parties out of the jurisdiction. On the contrary, exhortos are the only form of communication that allows judicial proceedings to be verified in jurisdictions other than where the litigation is being processed. The authority to enforce court rulings rests with the same tribunal that issued the decision. For this purpose, the law grants the judge the power to ask for law enforcement to enact their ruling. In the case of monetary rulings, since a court sentence is a perfect title of credit, one may ini - tiate an enforcement proceeding in which the first act of the court is an execution and seizure injunction. This is a very common and expedi - tious procedure that seeks to satisfy the debt, whether with a specific good or by the payment of a sum of money (which may be paid directly or may even come from a public auction). 5. Enforcement 5.1 Methods of Enforcement
In the case of non-monetary rulings such as the recognition of a debt or an obligation to do something (whether to provide a service or cel - ebrate a contract), there is also the alternative of an enforcement proceeding. If the debtor is not willing to comply, the contract may be cel - ebrated in their stead by the judge; in the case of the provision of a service, this may be provided by a third party at the cost of the debtor. However, if the party seeks to enforce a private agreement, the procedure available to do so will depend on the nature of the document in which the obligation is set out. If the creditor has a per - fect enforceable title in their favour, they may use the previously mentioned enforcement proceed - ing; if not, they will need to follow the respective procedure to acquire a perfect enforceable title. 5.2 Enforcement of Foreign Judgments To enforce foreign judgments, Chilean law requires a special authorisation issued by the Supreme Court, called exequatur. The procedure for obtaining said authorisation is found in the applicable international treaty, such as the Unit - ed Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. If there is no applicable treaty, Chilean law applies the reciprocity rule, which means that the Supreme Court will enforce foreign judgments only if the country of origin also recognises and enforces Chilean judgments; otherwise, the Supreme Court will refuse to enforce its judgments. If the reciprocity rule cannot be applied because there are no previous rulings, the Supreme Court will authorise the enforcement of the judgment if: • it does not contain anything contrary to Chil - ean law – however, procedural laws shall not be taken into consideration; • it does not conflict with national jurisdiction;
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