Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Titles in Slovenia

Outside of the proceedings, the creditor may acquire information about a judgment debtor in the Commercial register (so-called “AJPES”). Here, a creditor may obtain the following information:

• Basic information on companies (articles of association, shareholders and more)
• Financial reports of companies
• Registered bank accounts of companies
• Registered liens on movable properties
• Registry of de facto owners of companies
• Insolvency procedures

During the enforcement proceedings, all public authorities and private companies must give the creditor information on the debtor. This includes information on their deposits with banks, stock holdings, immovable properties and more.

If, during enforcement proceedings, the creditor has exhausted all known means of enforcement, they may demand that the debtor declare all their assets in a special declaration.

For judgements issued in the EU: pursuant to the Brussels I-bis regulation, foreign judgments are directly enforceable without a need for a special declaration of recognition. The creditor may request enforcement before the competent local court in Slovenia. The same applies for interim measures, although they may also be issued in the home country of the judgement under conditions of Art. 35 of Brussels the I-bis regulation. Please be aware that certain countries outside the EU also use this system of judgment recognition under the Lugano Convention (Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland).

For judgements issued outside of the EU:

If a bilateral or multilateral treaty applies to both Slovenia and the country of issuance, the provisions of such a treaty apply. The most important of these treaties is The Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (Hague Convention), which provides for a special recognition procedure.

If no bilateral or multilateral treaties apply, judgments issued outside of the EU must be recognized in a formal procedure before the Slovenian courts pursuant to the Slovenian Private International Law and Procedure Act (hereinafter: ZMZPP). The creditor must submit a request for recognition to the competent Slovenian court before enforcement steps are taken. Interim measures may be issued during the proceedings.

As stated before, there is no need to recognize an EU judgement. However, pursuant to Art. 36 of the Brussels I-bis regulation, any interested party may apply for a decision that there are no grounds for refusal of recognition. By doing so, the creditor precludes the debtor from utilizing the application for refusal of enforcement pursuant to Art. 47 of the Brussels I-bis regulation.

Although no formal recognition process is required, pursuant to Art. 43 of the Brussels I-bis regulation, the creditor must provide Slovenian courts with a copy of the judgement and a certificate confirming the enforceability of the judgment in the country of issuance.

There are two procedures in which a creditor may request recognition of a non-EU judgment:

1. Exequatur procedure, which represents a separate formal recognition procedure, the only purpose of which is to assess whether a judgment is eligible for recognition. A decision in this procedure produces a res iudicata effect for all future procedures.
2. Incidental recognition, which is a recognition of a foreign judgment in the context of a different procedure without a separate recognition procedure. It is rarely used due to the fact that the recognition is binding only in the context of the current procedure.

Every District court in Slovenia has jurisdiction for the Exequatur procedure. The creditor must provide the court with the following:

1. A formal application for recognition of the foreign judgment
2. The foreign judgment in its original version or its certified copy
3. A certified translation of the foreign judgment, if the judgment is not in the language that is used by the court (some courts must also use the Hungarian and Italian languages)
4. A certificate from the country of issuance proving that the judgment is res iudicata in that country. If a recognition of enforcement is also sought, the certificate must prove that the judgment is also enforceable in the country of issuance

Additionally, no causes for a rejection of recognition must be present:

1. Lack of adversarial proceedings;
2. Opposition to Slovenian public order;
3. Exclusive jurisdiction of Slovenian courts as to the substance of the judgment;
4. Excessive jurisdiction of the foreign country (when jurisdiction as to the substance of the judgment is based solely on the creditors nationality or the location of the debtor’s assets or the territory on which the lawsuit was served to the debtor);
5. A different judgment is already res iudicata in Slovenia;
6. Lis pendens: the same proceedings are currently taking place in Slovenia
7. Absence of reciprocity

After the judgment is declared to be recognized following the exequatur procedure, the judgment is deemed equivalent to judgments issued in Slovenia.

There is no general rule regarding the length of the recognition procedure.

There is no fixed fee for the recognition procedure and the cost may be highly variable. It is dependent on the following main factors:

1. a court fee (dependent of the nature of the judgment);
2. fee for legal representation (dependent on the complexity of the process);
3. translation costs (dependent on the length of the judgment).

Recognition of an EU judgment may be challenged on the basis of an application for refusal of enforcement in accordance with Art. 46 of the Brussels I-bis regulation. The judgment may be challenged on the basis of the following grounds:

• violation of the Slovenian public policy;
• violation of the right to be heard;
• incompatibility with a judgment given between the same parties in Slovenia;
• incompatibility with an earlier judgment given in another Member State or third state.

Recognition of a non-EU judgment may be challenged during the exequatur procedure. These same grounds for refusal of recognition may also be used during the appeal process against the judgment regarding recognition. The following grounds of refusal of recognition exist pursuant to the ZMZPP:

1. lack of adversarial proceedings;
2. opposition to Slovenian public order;
3. exclusive jurisdiction of Slovenian courts as to the substance of the judgment;
4. excessive jurisdiction of the foreign country (when jurisdiction as to the substance of the judgment is based solely on the creditors nationality or the location of the debtor’s assets or the territory on which the lawsuit was served to the debtor);
5. a different judgment is already res iudicata in Slovenia;
6. lis pendens: the same proceedings are currently taking place in Slovenia
7. absence of reciprocity.

It is important to note that only these grounds for refusal of recognition may be invoked in the course of the exequatur procedure. Other arguments relating to the enforceability of the judgment may only be invoked in the following separate enforcement procedure.

There is no time limit for having a foreign judgment recognized. However, the enforcement of a recognized judgment may no longer be possible due to the statute of limitations, which is dependent on the applicable law.

The recognition proceedings are conducted according to the rules of the Slovenian Non-Contentious Civil Procedure Act, under which each party must generally bear its own costs. However, the court may order that the costs be divided between the parties or be borne solely by the other party if the circumstances of the case justify such a decision.

After the judgment is declared to be recognized following the exequatur procedure, the judgment is deemed equivalent to judgments issued in Slovenia. Therefore, the rules on enforcement of recognized foreign judgments are identical to the rules on enforcement of national judgments. Enforcement measures are determined by the Slovenian Enforcement and Security Act and for instance include seizing and sale of property, assignment of debtor’s claims, attachment of financial assets...

Under the Slovenian Financial Operations, Insolvency Proceedings, and Compulsory Dissolution Act no new enforcement proceedings against the debtor are possible and existing enforcement procedures are terminated after insolvency proceedings are initiated.

Creditors have only the option of registering their claims in the debtor’s insolvency procedure. Creditors must do so within three months of the commencement of the publication of the notice of the insolvency process initiation. Creditors may receive only proportional distribution of the proceeds received from the sale of the debtor’s assets.

The recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards is ruled by the provisions of the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards of June 10 1958 (UN Convention). Under Art. 4 of the UN Convention, a duly authenticated original arbitration award must be submitted to the court. Additionally, no grounds for refusal of recognition and enforcement as set out in Art. 5 must be present.