Cross border enforcement — overviewEnforcement under Part II of the Administration of Justice Act 1920

Enforcement under this Act applies to a number of countries such as the British Virgin Islands and Singapore. The Act only applies to the enforcement of judgments and not to their recognition; recognition would depend upon common law principles. The Act applies to a judgment or order in civil proceedings in which a sum of money is payable. The conditions and procedure for registration are set out in the Act and CPR 74. Consideration must also be given to whether the Protection of Trading Interests Act 1980 is applicable.

Enforcement under the Judgments Regulation (the Brussels' Regime)

Where a judgment is given by and enforceable in a Member State, that judgment can be enforced in another Member State. To do this, an interested party must make an application to the local court for the judgment to be registered in the UK for enforcement. In other member states a declaration of the court is all that is required.

The relevant court in the UK for registration is the High Court with the exception of maintenance judgments. The procedure for enforcement or registration is governed by the laws of the Member State. In England this is set out in CPR 74.

Enforcement under the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1933

This applies to judgments given by the courts of Australia and the Australian States and territories (territory of Norfolk is excluded), Canada (all provinces and territories except Quebec), Guernsey, India, Isle of Man, Jersey, Pakistan and Tonga (Commonwealth countries) and Israel and Surinam.

The Act provides for the registration of judgments handed down by recognised courts of foreign countries; it is based on the principle of reciprocity. If all the necessary conditions are fulfilled, a court has no discretion to refuse registration. The conditions and procedures for registration are set out in the Act.

Enforcement under common law

Notwithstanding the various statutory regimes which deal with the enforcement of foreign judgments, the common law remains of considerable practical importance. To enforce a foreign judgment, a claimant has to bring fresh proceedings in England and Wales; the foreign judgment being the cause of action. There are a number of bases on which a judgment will not be enforceable, for example, jurisdiction.

Enforcement of English judgments in foreign courts

How you enforce an English judgment in a foreign court will depend upon two factors:

• the country where you are seeking to enforce, and

• whether that country has any reciprocal agreement

Within the EU, excluding Denmark, the procedure is governed by the Judgments Regulation. Outside the EU, the position will depend on whether there are reciprocal arrangements in place.

Extraterritorial disclosure - post judgment

It is important for winning parties to be able to enforcement judgments made in their favour. In order to do this, the judgment creditor may need to obtain information from the judgment debtor about its assets, particularly those located overseas. Extraterritorial post-judgment disclosure is usually ordered in conjunction with a freezing injunction, though it can be ordered on a stand-alone basis. The court’s jurisdiction arises under section 37 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 and CPR 71. In making such an order, the court's policy is that a judgment creditor should normally have all the information it needs to execute its judgment anywhere in the world. In practice, this will usually be a list of assets against which the judgment creditor can then seek enforcement.