Table of Articles

Brussels Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters

Title III - Recognition and enforcement
S e c t i o n 2: Enforcement

Art. 31

Foreign judgment - Judgment ordering the payment of a sum in foreign currency to be increased so as to reflect the revaluation of the currency and ordering the payment of legal interest - Order for enforcement appended without specifying the sum due at that date and the basis of computation of possible future increases - Inadmissible - Obligation of the exequatur judge to invite the creditor to specify the claim - N° 1993/32
Money judgment enforceable in the State of origin -Subsequent judgment ordering the termination of a court-supervised liquidation and conferring immunity from enforcement in that State but not in the State in which enforcement of the first judgment is sought - Effects on the quality of enforceability of that judgment in the State in which its enforcement is sought - N° 1998/6
Decision condemning to the payment of maintenance - Grant of the enforcement order having become final -Enforcement measures (order for payment) - Authorization denied in the absence of service of the foreign decisions on the debtor - Inadmissibility - N° 1998/22
Enforcement order - Notification of the order granting the enforcement to the party against whom the enforcement is requested - Objectives - Inobservance of the law of the State addressed regarding this notification - Annulment of the order - N° 1998/35
Decisions enforceable in the State of origin - Concept -Enforceability in formal terms - Enforcement carried on in the State addressed - Effect of a later decision, in a matter excluded from the purview of the Convention, granting immunity from execution in the State of origin to one of the parties - Appraisal by the court of the State addressed - N° 1999/5
Exequatur - Conditions - Enforceable nature of the foreign decision - “Writ of summons” issued by a British court - Lack of enforceable nature - Enforceable nature only attached with judgments rendered subsequently - N° 2000/32
Exequatur - Appeal against the order - Grounds - Failure to designate an agent ad litem - Procedure intended to protect the rights of defence of the party referred to in the request for exequatur - Effects - Extension of the time-limit for appeal against the granting of exequatur - Absence of effect on the validity of the judgment declaring the foreign judgment enforceable - N° 2000/42
Grounds for refusal - Public policy - Requirement, under the law of the court seised, for ministerial authorisation of enforcement against a foreign State - Concept of foreign State - Public-law corporation - Exclusion - N° 2000/42
Decision authorising enforcement - Apposition of enforcement formula - Conditions - Enforceability of the judgment in the State in which the judgment was given - Requirement that it be res judicata - None - N° 2001/50
Recognition of a judgment of an English court ordering an Italian company to pay the costs and charging a non-judicial authority (Taxing Master) with the determination of the amount - Actions brought before the Italian court relating to the recognition of the judgment, first, with regard to its substantive findings and, second, with regard to the determination of the costs - Admissibility of the action relating to the costs - N° 2004/31
Appending of executory formula – Procedure – Claim by application – Case relating to debt collection, liable to be settled – Power to order the debtor to pay the costs of the application - N° 2005/50
Enforcement order - Procedure - Obligation of the prosecuting authority to intervene - None - Infringement of the rights of the defence - Excluded - N° 2007/21

Art. 32

Application for enforcement - Court having territorial jurisdiction the hear the application for enforcement - Debtor giving up his place of domicile during the appeal proceedings against the decision authorizing enforcement - Influence - N° 1998/5
Exequatur - Application - Jurisdiction - Jurisdiction of the Court of first instance - Imperative provision - Application addressed to the highest appeal court - Lack of jurisdiction raised ex officio - N° 1999/42
Order for enforcement - Appeal against grant - Obligation of the court first seised to determine of its own motion, in the absence of an inter partes hearing, its territorial jurisdiction - Defendant only able to raise lack of jurisdiction for the first time on appeal - N° 2002/47

Art. 33

Enforcement order - Application - Applicability of the law of the State in which enforcement is sought - No evidence of the power of the company’s legal representative to appoint a lawyer - Power acknowledged by the defendant during the court proceedings in the State of origin - No formality in relation to the power (‘bastanteo’) - Minor irregularity - Admissibility - N° 2007/21

Art. 34

Enforcement order - Application - Applicability of the law of the State in which enforcement is sought - No evidence of the power of the company’s legal representative to appoint a lawyer - Power acknowledged by the defendant during the court proceedings in the State of origin - No formality in relation to the power (‘bastanteo’) - Minor irregularity - Admissibility - N° 2007/21
Enforcement order - Procedure - Obligation of the prosecuting authority to intervene - None - Infringement of the rights of the defence - Excluded - N° 2007/21
Grounds for refusal - Public policy - No statement of grounds for the foreign judgment - Production at the hearing of an untranslated document no substitute for the missing statement of grounds - Contrary to international public policy - Recognition refused - N° 2007/25

Art. 34, para. 1

Exequatur - Decision providing for the obligation to refrain from certain actions - Obligation to grant provisional measures provided for by the law of the State in which enforcement is sought - Absence of comparable measures in the law of the State of origin - Relevance - Request for interpretation - N° 2000/9
Order for enforcement - Appeal against grant - Obligation of the court first seised to determine of its own motion, in the absence of an inter partes hearing, its territorial jurisdiction - Defendant only able to raise lack of jurisdiction for the first time on appeal - N° 2002/47

Art. 34, para. 3

Review as to substance - Prohibition - Scope - Argument that company against which enforcement is sought is a separate company from the one before the foreign court - Exclusion - N° 1997/38

Art. 36

Appeal against authorization of enforcement - Power of the court seised to stay the proceedings - Right to request a stay of proceedings - Person having brought an appeal unable to advance one of the grounds for refusal specified in the Convention - Judgment against which an ordinary appeal is brought in the State of origin - Proceedings in respect of which a stay may be ordered - N° 1993/12
Appeal against authorization of enforcement - Power of the court seised to stay the proceedings - Refusal in the State of origin to stay the enforcement of the judgment - Relevance to the exercise, by the court addressed, of the power to stay the proceedings - N° 1993/12
Appeal against authorization of enforcement - Power of the court seised to stay the proceedings - Refusal to grant a stay or to lift a stay previously ordered by the court seised of the appeal - Appeal within the meaning of article 37 paragraph 2 to a superior court - Jurisdiction of the superior court to impose or reimpose a stay - N° 1993/12
Enforcement order - Appeal against the enforcement order - No objection raised on the grounds for refusal specified in articles 27 and 28 of the Convention - Judgment dismissing the appeal without specifying the lack of grounds for refusal - Admissibility - N° 1994/21
Enforcement order - Appeal against the grant of enforcement - Argument founded on the lack of indication of the rights of appeal when the foreign judgment was served - Defendant aware of the proceedings - Argument not relied upon before the court seised with the appeal against the enforcement order - Obligation of the court to examine ex officio - None - Circumstance upon which the argument is based compatible with French procedural public policy - N° 1996/20
Exequatur - Appeal against the order - Grounds - Failure to designate an agent ad litem - Procedure intended to protect the rights of defence of the party referred to in the request for exequatur - Effects - Extension of the time-limit for appeal against the granting of exequatur - Absence of effect on the validity of the judgment declaring the foreign judgment enforceable - N° 2000/42
Order for enforcement - Appeal against grant - Obligation of the court first seised to determine of its own motion, in the absence of an inter partes hearing, its territorial jurisdiction - Defendant only able to raise lack of jurisdiction for the first time on appeal - N° 2002/47
Judgment authorising enforcement – Addressee of the decision knew of it notwithstanding the absence or irregularity of service – Meaning of 'knowledge of the pleadings' – Independent Community definition – Request for interpretation - N° 2005/11
Service of the judgment authorising enforcement – Possibility of notifying the judgment by a means other than service – Request for interpretation - N° 2005/11
Judgment authorising enforcement – Addressee of the decision having knowledge of it notwithstanding the absence or defective nature of the service thereof – Commencement of the period laid down in Article 36 of the Convention from the time when the addressee of the decision knew of it – Request for interpretation - N° 2005/11
Enforcement proceedings – Appeal against issue – Appeal brought by interested third parties – Excluded - N° 2005/40
Decision authorising enforcement - Service - Definition - Notice in cases of failure of, or defective, service - Excluded - Requirement of due service in conformity with the law of the State in which enforcement is sought - N° 2006/3

Art. 37

Appeal against authorization of enforcement - Power of the court seised to stay the proceedings - Right to request a stay of proceedings - Person having brought an appeal unable to advance one of the grounds for refusal specified in the Convention - Judgment against which an ordinary appeal is brought in the State of origin - Proceedings in respect of which a stay may be ordered - N° 1993/12
Appeal against authorization of enforcement - Power of the court seised to stay the proceedings - Refusal in the State of origin to stay the enforcement of the judgment - Relevance to the exercise, by the court addressed, of the power to stay the proceedings - N° 1993/12
Appeal against authorization of enforcement - Power of the court seised to stay the proceedings - Refusal to grant a stay or to lift a stay previously ordered by the court seised of the appeal - Appeal within the meaning of article 37 paragraph 2 to a superior court - Jurisdiction of the superior court to impose or reimpose a stay - N° 1993/12
Appeal against grant of the enforcement order - Similar to challenging an order for payment based on Italian law - Power of the court hearing the appeal to examine a ground for refusal ex officio - None - Appellant may rely on such grounds after lodging the appeal - N° 1996/11

Art. 37, para. 1

Exequatur - Appeal against the decision authorizing enforcement - Rules governing procedure in contentious matters - Scope - Referral to the lex fori - Referral including the admissibility conditions of further appeal against the judgment on the appeal - National provisions excluding cases worth less than 6.000.000 ptas - Inadmissibility of further appeal - N° 1999/44

Art. 37, para. 2

Enforcement - Remedies - Appeal in cassation and 'Rechtsbeschwerde' - Remedy available to third parties under domestic law - Excluded - N° 1993/2
Appeals - Appeal in cassation or similar form of appeal on a point of law - Decisions against which appeals can be brought - Decision on a stay of proceedings by a court seised of an appeal against authorization of enforcement - Excluded - Jurisdiction of the court seised of an appeal on a point of law to decide on such a stay of proceedings - None - N° 1996/3
Order for enforcement - Appeal - Further appeal on a point of law - Decisions subject to appeal - Decision concerning the exercise by the lower court of its discretion to stay proceedings - Exclusion - N° 1997/20
Exequatur - Appeal against the decision authorizing enforcement - Rules governing procedure in contentious matters - Scope - Referral to the lex fori - Referral including the admissibility conditions of further appeal against the judgment on the appeal - National provisions excluding cases worth less than 6.000.000 ptas - Inadmissibility of further appeal - N° 1999/44

Art. 38

Appeal against authorization of enforcement - Power of the court seised to stay the proceedings - Right to request a stay of proceedings - Person having brought an appeal unable to advance one of the grounds for refusal specified in the Convention - Judgment against which an ordinary appeal is brought in the State of origin - Proceedings in respect of which a stay may be ordered - N° 1993/12
Appeal against authorization of enforcement - Power of the court seised to stay the proceedings - Refusal in the State of origin to stay the enforcement of the judgment - Relevance to the exercise, by the court addressed, of the power to stay the proceedings - N° 1993/12
Appeal against authorization of enforcement - Power of the court seised to stay the proceedings - Refusal to grant a stay or to lift a stay previously ordered by the court seised of the appeal - Appeal within the meaning of article 37 paragraph 2 to a superior court - Jurisdiction of the superior court to impose or reimpose a stay - N° 1993/12
Appeal against the grant of the enforcement order - Power of the court seised to make enforcement conditional on the provision of security - Exercise - Consideration not limited to the remedies not already invoked by the applicant or known to him at the time of the proceedings before the court of the State of origin - Consideration of the payments made after the judgment was delivered in the State of origin - N° 1995/18
Appeals - Appeal in cassation or similar form of appeal on a point of law - Decisions against which appeals can be brought - Decision on a stay of proceedings by a court seised of an appeal against authorization of enforcement - Excluded - Jurisdiction of the court seised of an appeal on a point of law to decide on such a stay of proceedings - None - N° 1996/3
Appeal against grant of enforcement order - Claim for a stay of the proceedings after the lodging of an appeal in the State of origin - Dismissal - Appeal in cassation - Inadmissibility - Discretionary power of the court of appeal to stay the proceedings or not - N° 1996/11
Enforcement order - Appeal against issue - Foreign judgment which is the subject of an ordinary appeal in the State in which the judgment was given - Obligation of the court before which enforcement is sought to stay proceedings on the application for an enforcement order - None - N° 2001/46
Decision authorising enforcement - Appeal against issue - Stay of proceedings following the lodging of an "ordinary appeal" in the State in which the judgment was given - Definition of ordinary appeal - Independent interpretation - Appeal in cassation classified as an extraordinary appeal in the State in which the judgment was given - No effect - Inclusion within the definition - Grant of stay - N° 2001/50
Order for enforcement - Appeal against grant - Meaning of "ordinary appeal" within the meaning of Article 38 of the Convention - Notice of appeal - Included - Conditions for stay of proceedings by the court in which recognition is sought - Reasonable doubt as to the final outcome of the decision in the State of origin and as to the determination of the damage resulting from enforcement of the judgment - No such doubt where only the notice of appeal is presented and in the absence of reasons supporting the appeal - N° 2003/41

Art. 39

Order for enforcement - Appeal against grant - Meaning of "ordinary appeal" within the meaning of Article 38 of the Convention - Notice of appeal - Included - Conditions for stay of proceedings by the court in which recognition is sought - Reasonable doubt as to the final outcome of the decision in the State of origin and as to the determination of the damage resulting from enforcement of the judgment - No such doubt where only the notice of appeal is presented and in the absence of reasons supporting the appeal - N° 2003/41
Order for enforcement - Protective measures permissible - Determination in accordance with the law of the court before which enforcement is sought - Provisional registration of mortgage - Whether permissible - Foreign decision on whether debt is payable not final - Not relevant - Obligation to notify, prior to the adoption of the protective measure, the decision ordering enforcement to the party against whom enforcement is sought - No such obligation - Cancellation of the provisional registration if not converted into a mortgage once the order for enforcement becomes final - No - N° 2004/29


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