Recognition and enforcement of judgments of foreign courts in Kazakhstan
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General Provisions

Article 501 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan provides that decisions, resolutions and rulings on the approval of settlement agreements, judicial orders of foreign courts are recognized and enforced by the courts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, if recognition and enforcement of such acts are provided for by legislation and/or an international treaty, ratified by the Republic of Kazakhstan, or on the basis of reciprocity.

In the event that the above-mentioned judicial acts are not voluntarily fulfilled within the time limits set by them, the party to the trial in favor of which these acts are rendered has the right to apply for compulsory execution to the court at the place of settlement of the dispute, either at the place of residence of the debtor or at the location of the body Legal entity, if the place of residence or location is unknown, then at the location of the debtor’s property.

Applications for the issue of the writ of execution shall be accompanied by duly certified original judicial acts or duly certified copies thereof, and, if available, a genuine arbitration agreement or a duly certified copy thereof. If these acts or arbitration agreements are set out in a foreign language, the party must submit a duly certified translation into Kazakh or Russian.

The court, when considering applications for the issue of an enforcement order for the compulsory execution of judicial acts, is not entitled to review them on the merits.
Based on the results of the consideration of the application, the court makes a determination on the issue of the writ of execution or on refusal to issue it.

The court’s decision to issue the writ of execution is subject to immediate execution.
At the same time, when recognizing and enforcing judgments rendered by Russian courts in Kazakhstan, it is necessary to follow the international law, in addition to the national law, the Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Cases adopted in Minsk on January 22,1993, ratified by both Russia and Kazakhstan (hereinafter – the Minsk Convention), which contains some additional provisions.

The list of documents required to file a petition with the court for the recognition and enforcement of judicial acts of Russian courts.

Article 53 of the Minsk Convention provides that an application for permission to enforce a decision shall be submitted to the competent court of a Contracting Party where the decision is enforceable. It can also be submitted to a court that ruled on the case in the first instance. This court sends a petition to the court, competent to rule on the petition.

The application shall be accompanied by:

A) a decision or a certified copy thereof, as well as an official document stating that the decision has come into legal force and is due to be enforced or that it is enforceable until it enters into force, unless it follows from the decision itself;

B) a document from which it follows that the party against whom the decision was taken who did not take part in the proceedings was duly summoned to the court and, in the event of her procedural incapacity, was duly presented;

C) a document confirming the partial execution of the decision at the time of its forwarding;

D) a document confirming the agreement of the parties on matters of contractual jurisdiction.

An application for permission to enforce a judgment and the documents attached thereto shall be provided with a certified translation into the language of the requested Contracting Party or in the Russian language.

Grounds for refusing to recognize and enforce the decisions of the Russian court in Kazakhstan

Article 55 of the Minsk Convention provides grounds for refusing to recognize and enforce the decisions of foreign courts.

Thus, in recognition of court decisions and in issuing permits for their enforcement, the case can be refused in cases where:

A) in accordance with the legislation of the Contracting Party on whose territory the decision is rendered, it has not entered into legal force and is not enforceable, except for cases when the decision is to be executed before the entry into force;

B) the defendant did not take part in the proceedings due to the fact that he or his authorized representative was not given a timely and properly served summons to the court;

C) in a case between the same parties, on the same subject and on the same ground in the territory of the Contracting Party where the decision is to be recognized and enforced, an enforceable decision has already been pronounced or there is an acknowledged decision of the third state court, or if the institution This Contracting Party has previously instituted proceedings in this case;

D) in accordance with the provisions of this Convention, and in cases not provided by it, in accordance with the legislation of the Contracting Party on whose territory the decision is to be recognized and enforced, the case falls within the exclusive competence of its institution;

E) there is no document confirming the agreement of the parties in the case of contractual jurisdiction;

E) the statute of limitation of compulsory execution expired under the legislation of the Contracting Party, whose court executes orders, expired.

The amount of the state fee payable upon filing an application to the court for recognition and enforcement of the decision of a foreign court.

According to paragraph 11 of Art. 535 of the Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the rate of state duty from applications for the issue of enforcement orders for the enforcement of decisions of arbitration and foreign courts is 500 percent of the monthly calculated rate (MCR), which is 5 MCR. In 2017, the amount of MCR set by Kazakhstan is KZT 2,269, therefore, the amount of the state duty to pay in filing such application in 2017 is KZT 11,345.

SION & Partners Law Firm offers legal assistance in the issues of recognition and enforcement of decisions of foreign, including Russian courts in the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as issues of recognition and enforcement of decisions of Kazakhstan vessels in Russia.