Legal basis

In the absence of an agreement for governing the matter of “enforcement” in the jurisdiction of a party the judgments rendered in the jurisdiction of another party between Iran and the country where the relevant “foreign judgment” has been issued, the matter of “enforcement of foreign judgments” shall be governed by the ninth chapter of the Enforcement of Civil Judgements Act 1977. The said chapter that contains the last articles of the Act (articles 169 – 180) determines the procedures to be followed for filing an application for “enforcement” of a “foreign judgment” in Iran as well as the conditions under which the said judgment is expected to be recognized by the Iranian courts as enforceable.

 

Procedure for filing an application for enforcement of a foreign judgment

For enforcement of a foreign civil judgment in Iran, an application should, basically, be filed with the civil court of the city of domicile of the person against whom the judgment is requested to be enforced. The following documents should be attached to the application:

• a certified and legalized copy of the judgment together with the official translation of the same. 
• a certified and legalized copy of the writ of enforcement issued by the competent authority of the country where the judgment has been issued together with the official translation of the same. 
• a formal confirmation by the Iranian embassy in the country where the judgment has been issued verifying that the relevant writ of enforcement has been issued by the competent authority/s of the said country.

The application would be reviewed in an extraordinary administrative session. Should the court find that the requirements and conditions provided by law are properly met, it will issue a writ of enforcement for the judgment. Otherwise, the application would be rejected. In this latter case, the applicant will still have a right to appeal.

When a writ of enforcement is issued by the Iranian courts for a “foreign judgment”, the enforcement process would generally be the same as if the judgment had originally been rendered in Iran.  

 

Conditions under which a foreign judgment could be deemed enforceable

The Iranian courts could be expected to grant a writ of enforcement for a foreign civil judgment, when and if all following conditions are properly met: 

• the civil judgments rendered by Iranian courts are enforceable in the country where the relevant judgment has been issued, 
• the judgment is final, enforceable and still valid in the country of its issuance,
• a proper writ of enforcement has been issued for the judgment by the competent authorities of the jurisdiction of origin,
• the contents of the judgment are not inconsistent with the public order or good morals according to the laws of Iran, 
• the judgment is not about a subject matter which is under exclusive jurisdiction of Iranian courts according to the laws of Iran,
• the judgment is not about or related to a real estate situated in Iran,  
• the judgment is not in violation of a judgment issued by the Iranian courts, and
• execution of the judgment in Iran is not in violation of an applicable international undertaking or of a special law.

The procedure and requirements where the “enforcement” is sought for a “foreign arbitral award” would be totally different. For this, you can see our overview of “how Iranian legal system treats with arbitration”

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For more information and advice, please contact us in Tavakoli & Colleagues law firm.