1. Which court to apply to?
When applying for recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, the applicant shall submit such application to the intermediate people’s court in the place of residence of the respondent or in the place where the property of the respondent is located. If the respondent has no residence and no property within the territory of the PRC, the applicant may submit such application to the intermediate people’s court in the place of the applicant’s residence in China.
2. When to apply?
According to the Civil Procedure Law of the PRC and its Judicial Interpretation, the applicant shall apply for recognition of a foreign judgment within two years starting from the last date of the performance period stipulated in the judgment. If the judgment stipulates performance in stages, the two-year period starts from the last date of each stage. If no stipulation is made about the performance period, the two-year period starts from the date when the judgment becomes effective.
Application for recognition and enforcement can be submitted concurrently or separately. But enforcement of an effective foreign judgment is subject to the recognition of such judgment. Where the applicant only applies for recognition, the court shall only make a judgment on the recognition.
3. What documents to submit?
The applicant shall submit the application along with the following documents:
(1) The original of the judgment or the its verified copy;
(2) The document(s) proving that the judgment has become effective;
(3) The document(s) proving that the court has legally summoned the absent party in the case of default judgment.
Where the judgment has clear stipulation about (2) and (3), no more documents are needed.
If the judgment and other documents are not in Chinese, Chinese translations produced by a qualified translation agency in China, with its company seal affixed thereto, shall be submitted as well.
If the documents are produced outside the territory of the PRC, they should be notarized and authenticated or otherwise proven to be true and authentic through procedures stipulated by relevant international treaties concluded by China and the foreign country.
4. What content to include in the application?
The application should specify—
(1) The name, gender, date of birth, nationality, domicile and identity document number of the applicant and respondent when they are natural persons; the name, domicile, name and position of the legal representative or representative of the applicant and respondent when they are legal persons or unincorporated organizations;
(2) The name of the court making the judgment, the case number of the judgment, starting date of the proceedings and the date of judgment;
(3) Specific requests and reasons;
(4) The status and place of the respondent’s properties in case of applying for enforcement and a statement about the enforcement of the judgment outside the territory of the PRC;
(5) Other situations to be clarified.
If you have any query about how to apply for recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in China, do not hesitate to contact us via administrator@35.93.49.201.