DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Law and Practice Contributed by: Marielle Garrigó, Urania Paulino, Eduardo Pellerano and Ricardo Pellerano Nadal, Pellerano Nadal Law & Consulting
regulated by the Dominican Civil Code and Laws Nos 6186, 189–11 and 45-20. In particular, Law No 45-20 includes an abbrevi- ated foreclosure process for collateral registered in the Movable Collateral Electronic System. Under this Law, if the parties have agreed to an extrajudicial execution clause and the security interest is duly registered in the Movable Collat- eral Electronic System, the creditor may enforce the security without judicial intervention, follow- ing the procedure agreed in the contract and pursuant to the Law. This represents a significant departure from the traditional process, allowing for faster and more flexible recoveries. In prac- tice, this process is still developing, and tradi- tional court-based enforcement remains avail- able and commonly used, especially for legacy pledges registered at the Peace Courts that have not yet been migrated to the Movable Collateral Electronic System. In that sense, for pledges not registered in the Movable Collateral Electronic System (eg, older pledges or those not regis- tered in the new system), the traditional judicial enforcement process outlined below applies. If the creditor is not a bank, the creditor may petition the corresponding Peace Court to ini- tiate an auction sale of the secured goods 90 days after the maturity of the pledge contract, provided the debtor has not fulfilled their pay- ment obligation. If the creditor is a bank, they may request the sale at a public auction without adhering to the 90-day waiting period. Bank creditors can request this at any time and their pledge right extends up to the maximum duration of the stat- ute of limitations – ie, 20 years. Once the sale in public auction has been requested, the Peace Court will order the debt-
or to deliver the pledged goods within a period ranging from one legal day ( Día Franco ) to five days. This order is served on the debtor at their domicile by a bailiff. If the debtor complies with the deadline granted, the Peace Court appoints a guardian to preserve the assets until the sale is carried out at public auction. In the event that the debtor does not deliver the assets, the Peace Court draws up a certificate of refusal of delivery and initiates an oral process to seize the assets, regardless of their location. If the assets given as collateral disappear for any reason attributable to the debtor, the Peace Court will carry out the corresponding criminal process. If the property given as security is in a jurisdic- tion outside that of the Peace Court, the roga- tory commission process is initiated whereby the Peace Court designates a judge in the jurisdic- tion where the assets are located, who may pro- ceed to seize the property on behalf of the Court. Within eight days following the expiration of the deadline for the delivery of the pledge or the judge’s seizure of the secured assets, the judge will issue an order setting the day and time of the sale at public auction. The date will be publicly announced for three days by means of notices on the doors and walls of the magistrate’s court and in other public places selected by the Peace Court. In practice, the creditors often publicise the process. The pledge will be delivered to the highest bidder by a sheriff, by order of the Peace Court upon payment of the sale price. If no bidder is present at the public auction, the creditor is awarded the pledge. This applies both to creditors who are banks and to those who are not.
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