SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Foo Yuet Min, Kong Man Er, Shumin Lin and See Chern Yang, Drew & Napier LLC
9.4 Enforcement Mechanisms of a Domestic Judgment A judgment creditor may apply for an enforce- ment order to enforce one or more court orders. An enforcement order may authorise the Sheriff to do one or more of the following: • in respect of an enforcement order for sei- zure and sale of property, to seize and sell all property belonging to the enforcement respondent; • in respect of an enforcement order for the delivery or possession of property, to seize and deliver or give possession of property in the possession or control of the enforcement respondent; • in respect of an enforcement order for attach- ment of a debt, to attach a debt that is due to the enforcement respondent from any non- party, whether immediately or at some future date or at certain intervals in the future; and • to do anything specified in the court order. The enforcement applicant may apply to the court by summons without notice for an enforce- ment order no earlier than three days after the court order has been served on the enforcement respondent. The summons must be supported by an affidavit containing the information set out in Order 22 Rule 2(4) of the ROC. Where mul- tiple methods of enforcement are sought, the enforcement applicant should state whether the Sheriff is to enforce them in any particular sequence or whether all or some methods are to be enforced simultaneously. If no such sequence is indicated, the Sheriff may carry out the terms in any order, at the Sheriff’s discretion. An enforce- ment order is valid for 12 months beginning on the date of issue, and may be extended by the court for a period of 12 months if the applica- tion is made before the enforcement order would have expired.
An enforcement applicant may also apply for the enforcement respondent to be examined, in order to determine what property the enforce- ment respondent has and where it is situated. Furthermore, a judgment creditor may obtain a post-judgment injunction to prohibit the disposal of assets as an aid to execution if there is a real risk of the judgment debtor dissipating its assets with the intention of depriving the creditor of sat- isfaction of the judgment debt and if it is in the interests of justice to grant the injunction. If the judgment debtor’s conduct or affairs pro- vide probable reason for believing that they are likely to leave Singapore with a view to avoid- ing payment or examination, the court may order that the judgment debtor be arrested and brought before the court for examination regard- ing their ability to pay the judgment. 9.5 Enforcement of a Judgment From a Foreign Country Foreign judgments may be enforced in Singa- pore by the following means: • under the Choice of Court Agreements Act 2016 (CCAA); • by registration under the Reciprocal Enforce- ment of Foreign Judgments Act 1959 (REF- JA); or • by way of a common law action. The statutory regime for the reciprocal recogni- tion and enforcement of foreign judgments has been consolidated under the REFJA with effect from 3 October 2019. The REFJA applies to judgments from Hong Kong, Brunei, Australia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and the United King- dom. With the exception of Hong Kong, all these jurisdictions previously fell under the Reciprocal
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