SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Alfonso López-Ibor, Pablo Henriquez de Luna, Virginia Jover and Pedro Echeguren, Lopez-Ibor DPM
9.3 Pre-judgment and Post-judgment Interest The party whose monetary claim has been upheld may collect interest accrued before and after the judgment is rendered. Interest accrued before the judgment is rendered is calculated on the basis of the rate set out by the parties in the contract, or where there is no agreement on this, by applying the legal interest rate fixed annually by the Spanish government. Regarding interest accrued from the date the judgment is rendered (also known as procedural default interest), this is calculated by applying an extra 2% over the legal interest rate to the claimed amount, up until the compensation is paid. 9.4 Enforcement Mechanisms of a Domestic Judgment The enforcement of a domestic judgment may be enforced by several means depending on the relief granted. In the case of orders of payment or other forms of monetary sums, it may be enforced through direct seizure of the defendant’s liquid assets (cash, bank deposits) or public auction of other goods, with the proceeds being given to the creditor. 9.5 Enforcement of a Judgment From a Foreign Country The enforcement of judgments is governed by three different sets of rules, depending on whether the judgment comes from an EU mem- ber state. • Regulation 1215/2012/EU on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judg- ments in civil and commercial matters will
apply if the judgment is rendered by the courts of an EU member state. • If the judgment has been issued by a non-EU member state, the recognition and enforce- ment of the judgment should follow the rules included in the relevant bilateral or multilateral treaties signed between the states of origin and Spain. • In the event that there is no international treaty between Spain and the country where the judgment was issued, then Act 29/2015 on International Judicial Co-operation on Civil Matters will apply. In broad terms, these procedures share as a common phase the necessity of recognition of the foreign judgment to be enforceable in Spain, which is known as an exequatur. 10. Appeal 10.1 Levels of Appeal or Review to a Litigation In civil trials, first instance rulings (rendered by courts of first instance or Commercial Courts) may be challenged if they amount to at least EUR3,000. The challenge may be based either on purely legal grounds (an erroneous application of the law) or an incorrect interpretation of the facts. If either of these is the case, a provincial court will re-examine in full the proceeding held before the first instance court. In addition, and under certain special circum- stances (the decision of the appeal has reversal interest), appeal rulings may be subject to a fur- ther challenge before the Supreme Court.
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