Originally from Enforcement of Money Judgments

I.  PRESENT ATTITUDE TOWARD ENFORCEMENT OF FOREIGN MONEY JUDGMENTS

A. Describe the receptiveness of your government (including courts) toward enforcement of foreign money judgments.

Hong Kong Courts have generally been receptive toward enforcement of final and conclusive foreign money judgments (“Judgments” and each a “Judgment”) in Hong Kong.  The Court of Appeal of Hong Kong (“the CA”) has expressly recognised that “[t]he availability of enforcement procedures in Hong Kong of foreign judgments (such as any judgment from the courts of Japan or the US) are not so difficult or cumbersome that it can really be said that the plaintiffs will somehow be deprived of a legitimate personal or juridical advantage by litigating in those countries”: Esquel Enterprises Ltd & Anor v. TAL Apparel Ltd & Anor [2006] 2 HKLRD 363 (CA) at 376A – B (para 47).  This is so whether or not the foreign jurisdiction concerned has any reciprocal Judgment recognition or enforcement arrangement with Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, it should be borne in mind that “[a]lthough the Hong Kong SAR and the Mainland PRC are part of one country, for the purposes of the conflict of laws they are separate law districts, and a judgment of the Supreme People’s Court is a foreign judgment”: First Laser Ltd v. Fujian Enterprises (Holdings) Co Ltd & Anor, unrep, FACV 6/2011, 6 July 2012 (CFA) (“First Laser (CFA)”) at 18 (para 43)). To address this, the Arrangement on Reciprocal Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region pursuant to Choice of Court Agreements between Parties Concerned was made in 2006 between the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China (“the PRC”) and the Government of Hong Kong for, inter alia, the purpose of making provisions for the enforcement in Hong Kong of Judgments in civil or commercial matters which are given in the Mainland of the PRC (“the Mainland”).

There are two main routes by which a Judgment may be recognised and enforced in Hong Kong: (1) by registration, in the case of certain Mainland Judgments, under the Mainland Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance (Cap 597) (“MJREO”) or, in the case of certain Judgments originating from other foreign jurisdictions, under the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance (Cap 319) (“FJREO”), or (2) by way of a fresh legal action at common law.  The applicability of each of the legislations is explained in the answer to question II.A.1 below.