Recognition and enforcement of foreign Judgments and public documents

The Law No. 1.448 dated June 28th, 2017 on private international law promulgated on July 7th July 2017 and of immediate application, established a Code of Private International Law and repealed articles 472 to 477 of the Code of Civil Procedure, regarding the forced execution of judgments and acts.

Articles 13 et seq. of Chapter 3 of the Code of Private International Law now provide the recognition and enforcement of judgments and public documents, and articles 14 to 17 are applicable for acts received by foreign public officers when they are applicable to these acts.

This law introduces the automatic recognition of judgments rendered by foreign courts and which have become res judicata in the Principality if there is no ground for refusal regarding the dispositions of the Code of Private International Law. Any interested parties may now introduce a procedure before Principality’s court in recognition or non-recognition of a judgment rendered by a foreign court.

Judgments rendered by foreign courts which have become res judicata, as well as acts received by foreign public officers, which are enforceable in the State in which they are delivered, are enforceable in the Principality only after they have been declared enforceable by the court, unless stipulated otherwise in the treaties.

A judgement rendered by a foreign court shall neither be recognised nor declared enforceable in the Principality if:

1. it was delivered by a court which did not have jurisdiction within the meaning of the provisions of the Code of Private International Law;
2. the rights of defense were not respected, especially where the parties were not duly summoned and were not able to defend themselves;
3. the recognition or enforcement is clearly contrary to the Monegasque public policy;
4. it is contrary to a decision delivered between the same parties in the Principality or to a previous decision delivered in another State and recognised in the Principality;
5. a dispute is pending before a court in the Principality, first petitioned, between the same parties relating to the same subject-matter.

As the condition of reciprocity is no longer required by the Code of Private International Law, a judgment rendered by a foreign court shall under no circumstances be reviewed as to its merits. The applicant for enforcement or recognition must imperatively provide the documents listed in article 18 of the Code of Private International Law.
The Law No. 1.448 dated June 28th, 2017 on private international law does not affect the agreement on mutual legal assistance between France and the Principality of Monaco dated September, 21th 1949 enforced by Order N°106 dated December 2nd 1949, which provides simplified procedures between the two countries. In civil and commercial matters, judgments and notary acts enforceable in one of the two countries will be declared enforceable in the other by the Court of the place where enforcement is sought.

Regarding the International Protection of Adults, the Hague Convention of 13 January 2000, ratified by the Principality of Monaco March 4th , 2016, and entered into force on July 1st 2016 provides that the measures taken in this matter by the authorities of a Contracting State shall be recognized by operation of law in all other Contracting States, and that if the measures taken in one Contracting State and enforceable there require enforcement in another Contracting State, they shall, upon request by any interested party, be declared enforceable or registered for the purpose of enforcement in that other State according to the procedure provided in the law of the latter State.