Article 85 of the Regulations of the Civil Procedures Law issued by Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018 (“Regulation”) regarding the regulations of Federal Law No. (11) of 1992 regarding civil procedures, enumerates the procedures that the applicant shall take to enforce foreign provisions, orders and bonds within the state.
In addition, Article 86 of the same Regulation stipulates that Article 85 applies to the enforcement of foreign arbitration awards that are intended to be implemented within the state.
Likewise, Article 87 of the same Regulation stipulates that the Execution Judge shall be granted the competence to issue an order to execute attested documents and reconciliation reports ratified by the courts of a foreign country, according to the same procedures and conditions for the enforcement of foreign rulings and orders stipulated in Article 85 of the Regulation.
Moreover, in order to discern the difference between the UAE Federal Civil Procedure Law before its amendments and after the new amendments stated in the regulation, through which it facilitate execution procedures; we shall firstly present the method of implementing judgments, orders, foreign arbitration awards, attested documents and reconciliation reports, which has been ratified by the foreign state courts according to the UAE Federal Civil Procedure Code before amending it.
The Procedures of obtaining the Executory judgment in the UAE Federal Civil Procedure Law before amending it:
The UAE Federal Civil Procedure Law previously required the claimant to file a lawsuit, in which the claimant shall request to enforce the provisions, orders, foreign arbitration awards, attested documents and reconciliation reports, which has been ratified by a foreign country court.
However, in the event that a judgment has been issued by a court of first instance in favor of the claimant; the latter cannot initiate the execution procedures until and unless the judgment is considered definitive/final, either by the completion of the appeal deadline dates, or by adjudication of the appeal with a final judgment.
Furthermore, in accordance with the provisions of the UAE Federal Civil Procedure Law, the judgment issued by the appeal court can be challenged by filing a cassation case before the cassation court.
The aforementioned procedures used to consume a lot of time before the judiciary system/courts in order to enable the prevailing party to commence the execution procedures of any provisions, orders, foreign arbitration awards, attested documents and reconciliation reports, which has been ratified by a foreign country court.
Procedures for obtaining the Executory Judgment in accordance with the Regulation after amendments:
Nonetheless, after applying the amendment included in Article 85 of the Regulation, it has become smoother and easier to enforce provisions, orders, foreign arbitration awards, attested documents and reconciliation reports, which has been ratified by the courts in a foreign country.
Accordingly, the applicant shall file an “order on a petition” case to the execution judge in accordance with the conditions stipulated in Article 16 of the Regulation, in which it stated that the “order on a petition” shall include the required data of filing a case. Subsequently, the execution judge shall issue the judgment within 3 days from the date of filing the “order on a petition”.
In respect to the above mentioned, the concerned judge has the right to collect/complete any missing data or documents, such as evidence of enforceability, attestation of the judgment in the country in which it was issued and/or evidence of serving summon to the losing party in case the judgment has been issued in absentia, etc.
This Article 16 allows the defendant to file an appeal case against the judgment issued by means of appeal stipulated in the law. However, this Article does not allow the defendant to challenge the judgment issued by the appeal court by filing a cassation case before the cassation court, which means that the judgment issued by the appeal court is considered final/definitive.
This is a significant and clear difference between the UAE Federal Civil Procedure Law before its amendments and the Articles stated in the Regulation, which facilitate the enforcement of enforced provisions, orders, foreign arbitration awards, attested documents and reconciliation reports, which has been ratified by the courts in a foreign country.
Also, it is noteworthy that the execution judge shall verify that the provisions, orders, foreign arbitration awards, attested documents and reconciliation reports, which has been ratified by the courts in a foreign country are not contrary to the rules and ethics of UAE.
Consequently, it is obvious that the Regulation of the Civil Procedures Law facilitate the procedures of enforcing of the provisions, orders, foreign arbitration awards, attested documents and reconciliation reports, which has been ratified by the courts in a foreign country, which accordingly saves effort, money and helps to expedite the litigation in order to achieve justice within reasonable period of time.
For more information, please contact Reda Hegazy at [email protected]