A person who has a judicial decision on his hands wishes for one thing – a real restoration of the violated right, i.e. the execution of the decision. In the event that the decision is rendered by a court of one country, and the implementation of the will of justice must take place on the territory of another state, the procedure becomes more complicated. This article – a review of the order of execution of judgments of the Russian Federation in Poland.
As already mentioned, the procedure involves certain difficulties, which you can overcome yourself, possessing certain knowledge or entrusting their removal to experienced professionals. To make objective conclusions about whether to fight alone or take advantage of third-party assistance, it is possible after acquaintance with the nuances of the procedure.
Legislative regulation and terms
The procedure, conditions and mechanisms for the recognition and enforcement of decisions of Russian courts in Poland (and vice versa) are contained in the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Poland on legal assistance and legal relations in civil and criminal cases of 16.09.1996.
Article 52 of the said agreement states that Poland and Russia mutually recognize and execute on the territory of their states judicial decisions in civil cases and sentences in criminal cases in respect of compensation for damage caused by criminal acts.
Judicial decisions include:
• Settlement agreements for civil matters of a property nature, duly concluded / approved by the courts;
• final arbitral awards entered which are into force and subject to enforcement;
• notarial acts having the power of executive inscriptions according to the laws of the state-territories of their commission.
Article 53 of the said treaty regulates the conditions for the recognition and enforcement of decisions made in the territories of these states. According to the requirements of this article, the decision can be recognized and enforced:
1. If it has entered into legal force, and is subject to execution in the “homeland”.
2. Provided that it does not fall within the exclusive competence of the authorities of another state and is not limited to the rules of exclusive jurisdiction.
3. If the party in the case was not deprived of the possibility of protecting its rights.
4. In making a decision in a proceeding that was to be carried out with the application of the law of another state, and it was applied either if the legislation applied is identical in both countries.
5. If in the case between the same parties: there is no entry into force of the court of another country – the territory of recognition and enforcement, there is no proceeding previously started in the court of another country, there is no recognized and executed judicial decision of the third state.
The above conditions indicate that the key to recognizing and executing decisions in the territories of different countries is compliance with the laws of these states, based on the norms of the contracts concluded between them.
Execution of judgments of the Russian Federation in Poland
Persons who want to actually implement a satisfied claim by an existing court decision in Poland should know:
1. An application for recognition (performance) shall be submitted to the court of the state in whose territory it is recognize (enforce) or through a court that has examined the case in the first instance. At the same time, the decisions on civil cases that came into force are recognized without special proceedings.
2. Any decisions of the courts of the Russian Federation in Poland are considered by the general courts, since there is no division of state courts into arbitration courts and general courts.
3. An application for the issue of a writ of execution on the basis of an already available decision of a foreign court should be submitted to the district court at the place of residence (location) of the debtor, in the absence of such, to a court that has the power to implement enforcement proceedings.
4. Judicial decisions are not recognized and are not executed if there are non-observance of the conditions established by Articles 53 and 54 of the Treaty, and also if they contradict the public order of the Republic of Poland.
Separately, it should be stipulated that filing an application for recognition and enforcement of a judgment in Poland is a more complicated procedure. To implement it, you need to collect a certain package of documentation and make more efforts. At the same time, any collect of debts is guaranteed to be successful only if there is qualified legal support, which can always be obtained from the lawyers of the ILF “Speaker”.