Recognition and enforcement of the Polish judgments in Belarus

Authors:

ARJAGI

Angelina Romanchuk, Junior Associate, GRATA International

ARTICLE10 June 2021

Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments on the commercial matters against legal entities in Belarus are not rare. If decision of the foreign court is not executed voluntary by the Belarusian debtor than one shall deal with procedure of recognition and enforcement.

A condition for the judgment’s recognition and enforcement in Belarus is to obtain a corresponding act of the Belarusian court (a procedure known as "exequatur").

According to art. 54 of the Agreement Belarus and Poland recognize and enforce on their territory court decisions made on the territory of the other party (settlement agreements are also considered court decisions).

Recognition and enforcement conditions

The Polish judgment shall be recognized and enforced in Belarus if (art. 55 of the Agreement):

1) it has entered into legal force and is subject to execution under the legislation of Belarus;

2) according to the Agreement provisions and in cases not provided for by it, the case does not belong to the exclusive competence of the Belarusian authorities under the legislation of Belarus;

3) the party was not deprived of the opportunity to defend its rights, especially the party that did not participate in the proceedings, and received a summons to the court session in due time and in due order;

4) in the identical case, a decision that has entered into legal force has not been previously issued or a case has not been initiated in the Belarusian court;

5) the judgment of a third state in an identical case on the territory of Belarus was not recognized or enforced;

6) when making the judgment, the law stipulated by the Agreement was applied, and in the absence of such regulation in the Agreement - based on the internal law of Belarus.