The enforcement of foreign judgments under Brussels I bis: false alarms and real concerns

Abstract

This article reviews the recognition and enforcement procedure adopted in the Brussels I bis Regulation, including the much-debated abolition of intermediary exequatur proceedings. It examines the new responsibilities of enforcement organs and discusses some of the doctrinal concerns in this regard. The article then underlines the new regime's potential flaws with respect to both the debtor's and the creditor's rights during enforcement. Such shortcomings include the problematic discretion of Member States either to delay the satisfaction of the creditor's claim well beyond the time limits formerly set in Brussels I, or to impose irreversible enforcement measures much sooner than the debtor's rights of defence previously allowed. Overall, this analysis seeks to show that the optimistic goals of the Brussels I reform – some of them based on questionable assumptions – are hardly fulfilled by the final Recast.