When can a foreign judgment become enforceable and gain res judicata in Romania?

Normally, legal judgements, once issued, acquire enforceability and res judicata in the State that issued them and exercises coercion in order to achieve justice.

Enforcement of a foreign judgment in the territory of another country is hindered by the sovereignty of the State within whose territory that ruling is claimed because states are sovereign and equal. Thus, foreign judgments can not operate as of right in another country than the one whose court issued the judgement in question. Our Romanian lawyers can provide detailed information.

Therefore, the “exequatur” procedure is the procedure through which a foreign judgment becomes enforceable in the same manner as a judgement issued by the State in which the recognition and enforcement is desired.

As we explained, a foreign judgment may take effect in another State if it fulfills the requirements set by the law of the State in which the effects are desired, namely the recognition of the foreign judgment or obtaining the “exequatur”.

However, in certain circumstances, a foreign judgment may take effect even without fulfilling the legal requirements established.

The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments is governed by Book VII (international civil procedure) of the Code of Civil Procedure, while the conflict-of-law rules are in Book VII of the Civil Code. The experts at our Romanian law firm can assist during this procedure.

What is exequatur and which court recognizes foreign judgments in Romania?

This recognition occurs if the foreign judgment is not executed voluntarily by people who have this obligation.

The provisions of the Civil Procedure Code established that certain foreign judgments are recognized as of right in Romania. Such decisions relate to the personal status of citizens of the State where they were pronounced or, if pronounced by a third country, they were first recognized in the State of nationality of each party, or in lack of recognition, were pronounced based on the law determined as applicable by virtue of private international law. Compliance with Romanian public policy in private international law, as well as respect for the right to defense constitute additional conditions necessary for recognizing these foreign judgements as of right.

Foreign judgments which do not refer to the above will be recognized in Romania and achieve res judicata in the following conditions outlined below by our Romanian lawyers:

the decision is final under the law of the State where it was pronounced;
the court that pronounced it had jurisdiction to try the process without being based solely on the presence of the defendant or his/her property not directly related to the litigation in the State of establishment of that jurisdiction;
there is reciprocity in terms of the effects of foreign judgments between Romania and the State of the court which pronounced that decision.

The court competent to hear the application for recognition of a foreign judgment in Romania is the court in whose district the domicile or headquarters of the person who refused to execute the judgement is located.

If the competent court can not be determined, the competence to judge the request for recognition belongs to the Bucharest Tribunal. Our Romanian lawyers can help represent clients in court.

However, the request for recognition of a foreign judgment can be resolved incidentally, by a court that hears a cause with another object, in which the res judicata exception rises or a prior issue is grounded on the foreign judgement.

One important thing is that the request for recognition of the foreign judgment would interrupt the prescription of the right to obtain the enforcement.

Why may Romanian courts refuse to recognize a foreign judgment?

A foreign judgment shall not be recognized if it was given in default of the party that lost the case, in case the citation for the debate on the merits and the document instituting the proceedings were not handed in time and the person was not given the ability to defend and exercise proper appeal against the court’s decision.

Besides these reasons, the recognition of the foreign judgment may be refused in the following circumstances listed below by our lawyers in Romania:

Romanian courts owned exclusive competence to hear the case;
the right to defense was violated;
the decision may be subject to an appeal in the state where it was issued;
the foreign judgment is irreconcilable with an earlier judgment rendered abroad and which may be recognized in Romania;
the judgement is contrary to the public order of Private International Law; the experts at our law firm in Romania can provide more details;
the judgement issued in an area where people do not dispose freely of their rights was pronounced with the sole purpose of evading the applicable law according to Romanian private international law;
the process has been settled between the same parties by a decision, even non-final, belonging to the Romanian courts or is undergoing trial in front of them at the moment that the foreign courts had been referred.

The verification of the conditions required for the recognition of a foreign judgment in Romania does not entail the examination by the Romanian court of the substance of the foreign judgement nor its amendment.

For more information about the exequatur procedure in Romania, as well as legal advice in terms of the recognition of foreign judgements in Romania, do not hesitate to contact the team of lawyers in Romania at the law firm Darie, Manea & associates who will provide legal assistance, as well as representation before the competent authorities!

How is a foreign judgment enforced in Romania?

If the debtor does not comply voluntarily, a foreign judgment that does not benefit from the EU rules described below can be enforced in Romania only after a Romanian court has approved its enforcement (exequatur). The application is heard by the tribunal in whose district enforcement is to take place, and it can be combined with the application for recognition.

The court checks the same conditions as for recognition and, in addition, that the judgment is enforceable in the state where it was given. The grounds for refusing recognition apply equally, and the court does not review the merits of the case. The application must include:

a copy of the foreign judgment;
proof that the judgment is final;
proof that it is enforceable, issued by the court that gave it;
for a judgment given in default, proof that the defendant was served in time with the summons and the document instituting the proceedings, or other official proof that the defendant knew of them in time;
any other document showing that the conditions for recognition are met;
certified Romanian translations and, unless a treaty provides otherwise, an apostille or legalisation.

If a document is missing, the court may set a deadline for producing it, accept an equivalent document or, if it has enough information, dispense with it.

The court rules after summoning the parties. If the judgment contains several claims that can be separated, enforcement may be approved for only some of them. For periodic maintenance, approval covers both the instalments already due and those falling due later. Once the decision approving enforcement is final, an enforcement title is issued on its basis, and a court bailiff then carries out the enforcement under the ordinary rules of Romanian enforcement procedure.

Foreign decisions ordering precautionary measures, and judgments given with provisional enforcement, cannot be enforced in Romania under this procedure. The same procedure applies to court settlements concluded abroad. A foreign judgment establishing an obligation under foreign tax law can be recognised and enforced only on the basis of reciprocity.

What if the judgment orders payment in a foreign currency?

When it approves enforcement of a judgment ordering payment of a sum in foreign currency, the court also orders the amount to be converted into lei at the exchange rate of the day on which the judgment became enforceable in the state where it was given. Until conversion, interest on that amount is governed by the law of the court that gave the judgment.

What evidentiary value does a foreign judgment have?

Separately from recognition and enforcement, a judgment given by a competent foreign court is evidence before Romanian courts of the facts it establishes, provided it meets the authenticity requirements of the law of the state where it was given. Its findings have no evidentiary value if they are manifestly incompatible with Romanian public policy in private international law. The facts it establishes may be disproved by any means of evidence.

Do judgments from other EU countries need exequatur?

In most cases, no. Under Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 (Brussels I bis), a civil or commercial judgment given in another Member State in proceedings started on or after 10 January 2015 is recognised in Romania without any special procedure and is enforceable without a declaration of enforceability. It is enforced by a court bailiff under the same conditions as a Romanian judgment.

The creditor gives the enforcement authority a copy of the judgment and the certificate issued by the court of origin under Article 53 of the Regulation; a translation may be requested. The certificate must be served on the debtor, together with the judgment if it has not already been served, before the first enforcement measure. The debtor can ask a Romanian court to refuse enforcement only on the grounds listed in the Regulation:

enforcement would be manifestly contrary to Romanian public policy;
the judgment was given in default and the defendant was not served in time to arrange a defence;
the judgment is irreconcilable with a judgment given between the same parties in Romania, or with an earlier judgment given in another state between the same parties on the same cause of action, if that earlier judgment can be recognised in Romania;
the judgment breaches the jurisdiction rules protecting policyholders, consumers and employees, or the rules on exclusive jurisdiction.

Judgments in proceedings started before 10 January 2015 still need a declaration of enforceability under the former Regulation (EC) No 44/2001. European Enforcement Orders, European orders for payment and judgments given in the European Small Claims Procedure are also enforceable in Romania without a declaration of enforceability.

Special EU regimes apply in family matters:

Maintenance: under Regulation (EC) No 4/2009, decisions from Member States bound by the 2007 Hague Protocol are enforceable without a declaration of enforceability, on production of the decision and the standard extract issued by the court of origin. Decisions from a Member State not bound by the Protocol still need a declaration of enforceability.
Divorce and parental responsibility: under Regulation (EU) 2019/1111, for proceedings started on or after 1 August 2022, decisions are recognised without any special procedure, and civil-status records can be updated on the basis of a final divorce decision without a separate procedure. Decisions on parental responsibility are enforceable without a declaration of enforceability, on production of the certificate issued in the Member State of origin. For earlier proceedings, Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 still applies, and most parental-responsibility decisions need a declaration of enforceability, except certified decisions on rights of access and on the return of a child.

Judgments from outside the EU still need approval by a Romanian court. Where a convention applies, its conditions take precedence over the domestic rules. Examples are the 2007 Lugano Convention, under which judgments from Iceland, Norway and Switzerland are declared enforceable through a simplified procedure, and the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention, in force for the EU since 1 September 2023 and for the United Kingdom since 1 July 2025; it covers judgments in proceedings started once it was in force for both states concerned.

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Meet Cristian Darie, a committed lawyer at Darie, Manea & Associates skilled in national and international legal matters. Contact our firm for legal assistance.

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Meet Marcela Manea, managing partner at Darie, Manea & Associates, a lawyer since 2006, guiding clients through complex legal matters in Romania.

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Adriana Țugui heads the litigation and arbitration department at Darie, Manea & Associates and has practised as a lawyer since 2007.

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Laurentia Gheorghe is a senior lawyer leading our Criminal Law and Business Crime Department in Romania. Contact Darie, Manea & Associates for criminal defense.

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