Since Romania is a part of the European Union on January 1st, 2007, the foreign judgements in civil and commercial matters are recognized based on the fact that they were made in EU or outside the EU. The foreign judgements recognition are considered to be one of the fifth freedoms in the European Union, alongside free movement of services, goods, people and capital, being an essential part of the European internal market.
In this article, our team of Romanian lawyers briefly states the main situations in which this recognition applies. For more details, as well as professional legal assistance, please feel free to reach out to us.
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Main provisions for recognising foreign judgments in Romania
According to the Romanian Law 105/1992 regarding the international private law reports, if a foreign law court judgement is not enforced willingly, the judicial enforcement of an exequatur procedure will be used.
The person who seeks the recognition or enforcement of a foreign judgment will submit a copy of it to the Romanian competent court or authority. The copy must be submitted with a certificate completed by the competent court or authority that has issued the judgment – referring to the authentic act or settlement. Our team of lawyers in Romania can assist those who are interested in making this submission.
When applying a declaration of enforceability, it should be accompanied by the proof of enforceability of the decision issued by the law court rendering it – article 175.
If the formal conditions for enforcement are fulfilled, the Romanian court must enforce the judgment. There will no need for further verification an under no circumstances may a foreign judgment be reviewed as to its substance.
Special cases, such as those presented below, can apply. The team of experts at our law firm in Romania can provide assistance prior to the submission for recognition.
Cases that cannot be subject to recognition presented by our lawyers in Romania
Still, there are some cases in which foreign decisions are not recognized by the Romanian courts under certain conditions:
- the decision was the result of a fraud in the foreign law procedure;
- the decision violates public policy by the Romanian private international law;
- the law suit for the same case was settled by a Romanian court, between the same parties or the case is pending at the foreign law court.
Should you need details on these situations, please contact our Romanian lawyers and litigation specialists.
It is considered that the competent authorities and the courts are truly “serving” the needs of EU member State citizens. Consequently, if someone is seeking recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment in Romania, one should make use of the provisions of Law 105 only for non-EU judgments and of the provisions of one of the two regulations – Law 44 or 805 for EU. So it will be benefiting from the simplified procedures introduced by them.
More details and assistance regarding the recognition of foreign judgments in Romania and the exequatur procedure would be provided on demand by our team of lawyers in Romania.
For information and assistance with other legal issues, you may contact our team with your questions and our lawyers will answer these as soon as possible. A separate division of our team also handles property matters, and we can help foreign investors interested in buying land in Romania or buying apartments or houses. We can give you complete details about the applicable purchase regulations and steps.