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FAQ

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What are the rules of recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments?

Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 applies to the enforcement of judgments from EU Member States. Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 applies to the enforcement of judgments from EU Member States. The grounds for refusal to recognise or enforce a judgment under the Regulation were analysed recently by the Supreme Court in case ref. no II CSK 628/08.

As for other countries, special rules apply when reciprocal international agreements exist. If there is no such agreement, the court inquires of the Ministry of Justice for information on reciprocity in any given country.

Pursuant to the CCP a judgment is recognised and enforced on a reciprocal basis on condition that:

• it is final according to the law of the country in which it was issued;
• the case was not subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Polish courts or the courts of another country;
• a party was not denied the possibility of defending its rights or was not deprived of proper representation in case of limited capacity to be a party in court proceedings;
• the case was not previously resolved before a Polish court and no proceedings in Poland were initiated before a Polish court before the foreign judgment became final;
• the judgment is not contrary to fundamental rules of law of the Republic of Poland;
• in cases where Polish law should have been applied, it was applied, unless the law applied did not differ significantly from Polish law.