How to legalize a foreign judgement in Russia?

Legal grounds

There are two independent laws in the Russian legal system that regulate the trial proceeding of civil cases: the Commercial Procedure Code of the Russian Federation (for disputes between commercial entities and other commercial issues) and the Civil Procedure Code (for other categories of disputes).
Under the Codes judgements of foreign state courts, awards of international commercial arbitrations and arbitration tribunals are recognized and enforced by the Russian Federation if it is provided by an international treaty. The absence of an international treaty does not mean that the decision will definitely not be enforced in the Russian Federation. In these cases, courts can apply the general rules of international cooperation, in particular, the principle of reciprocity.

How to appeal: procedural terms, authorities

A judgement made by a foreign court must be submitted for enforcement within three years from the date of entry into force of this judgement. An application for the recognition and enforcement of a foreign court judgement and of a foreign arbitration award is filed by the recoverer with the commercial court at location of the defendant's company (place of residence) or at the location of the debtor's property.The choice of a particular court of law depends on the category of the dispute (commercial or other categories of disputes). It is very important to correctly determine the jurisdiction and go to court in due time. In case of an incorrect choice of jurisdiction, the application will be returned. In the event of failure to file with the court within the term fixed by law, an incorrect choice of jurisdiction is not recognized as a valid reason to restore the expired term.

Procedure of the judgement’s enforcement

If all the requirements for application for the recognition and enforcement of a foreign court decision are met, the court will issue a ruling on the enforcement of the foreign judgement. The ruling may be appealed by the debtor within one month. If it is not appealed within the fixed term, it comes into legal force and a writ of execution for the enforcement of the judgement is issued.
Even though the recoverer has a favorable judgement, a writ of enforcement and initiated enforcement proceedings, he should keep taking measures to protect his rights. Due to the overload of the bailiff service, difficult situation with the HR-related matters of the Federal Service of Court Bailiffs the collection process can be greatly delayed. In addition, if the debtor does not intend to pay back the debt voluntarily, upon the receipt of a writ of execution the recoverer can face a complex and time-consuming process to recover funds. In any case, the process of debt repayment is particularly challenging without professional assistance, that is why we recommend leaving it to the experts of CPO group who know how to speed up the process and, in practice, help their clients to have the debts repaid in a timely manner.