Enforcing a CCJ in Different Jurisdiction

[murphyb00701]

Hi All, Was hoping for advice please. I have a debtor in ROI, and we are in NI, who owes about £2k. I believe we can issue proceedings at the local court and convert the € to STG total. If we were awarded a CCJ. What is the process off getting it transferred to ROI. to be enforced if It came to it? Thanks

 

[The Byre]

The magic words are A European Enforcement Order!

Once you have obtained a judgment, you can apply for an EEO in Northern Ireland, which is usually the court that issued the judgment. The application is available on the European e-Justice website somewhere.

After the EEO certificate has been issued, it can be transmitted to the Master of the High Court in the RoI and apply to have it enforced in the Republic of Ireland.

But please note that an EEO is only applicable for final judgments, which means that the debtor must not have lodged any appeal or opposition.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

I don't think this is very straight forward as we had to do similar in the past. Belfast to ROI. Before brexit it was easy now it's quite complicated.

My recommendation would be to issue small claims direct in ROI court and max out the 2000 euro limit. If you claim over that it will become a very expensive to proceed via their court system.

Due to some issues with irish companies we don't offer any credit terms anymore and only do cod terms. It was a game changer.

 

[The Byre]

My recommendation would be to issue small claims direct in ROI court and max out the 2000 euro limit. If you claim over that it will become a very expensive to proceed via their court system.

Good point! The court would however need evidence that they have jurisdiction. If the defendant incurred the debt from the Republic of Ireland, such as through an online transaction, it could be used as evidence to support the plaintiff's case for the court in the Republic of Ireland having jurisdiction.

If both parties were in NI at the time of the transaction (or the defendant can at least persuade them that, that was the case) and the defendant legged it for the South when the debt came due, the court would have to deny the application.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

I was under the assumption UK business supplied goods or services to ROI based customer or business.

I included following from the Small claims Ni website

European Small Claims Procedure​

Following the UK's exit from the EU, any cases ongoing on 31 December 2020 will continue to be processed. Any cases lodged after 11.00pm on 31 December will not be processed.

There is no provision for new incoming or outgoing European Small Claims after 31 December 2020 (this includes the Republic of Ireland).

However, you may want to consider using a process where the respondent resides to try to claim your money back

If you wish to issue a small claim to a respondent (the person against whom the claim is made) who lives outside Northern Ireland but within the UK, you can still use the Northern Ireland small claims procedure.

 

[The Byre]

However, the Hague Choice of Court Convention should apply and a NI small claims judgment should be enforceable in the RoI as both countries are signatories to this convention - Hague Court in '67 and Choice of Court was signed in 2005 and came into effect about seven years ago. Exactly how enforcement can be done I do not know, however. I just worry about UK and Germany!