Republic of Moldova - Enforcement of Money Judgments

During the last ten years, in the process of the declaration of independence of the Republic of Moldova, significant changes took place which affected all fields of social and public life. Significant changes also took place in the legislation of the Republic of Moldova. New legislation has, step by step, replaced the obsolete legislation of the Soviet period. In particular, during the last three years, an active process of renewal of legislation in the country has taken place. Thus, in the years 2002-2003, new codes have been enacted for the Republic of Moldova including the Civil and Criminal Codes and Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure.

The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in the Republic of Moldova is not new. The specific procedure was provided in the Code of Civil Procedure of 1964. However, it did not receive detailed regulation, as the Code provided only two articles regulating the given legal relations. A more detailed regulation the enforcement of foreign judgments was adopted by a Regulation of a plenum of the Supreme Court of justice, “On practice of application by courts of some regulations of legislation, regulating the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments on the territory of Republic of Moldova on property and non-property cases.” The given Regulation is more a recommendation than an obligation. At the same time, the significance of the given Regulation, in practical means, was very big, as it determined the position of judicial practice in the Republic of Moldova and regulated, in detail.the order of enforcement of foreign courts’ decisions, filling up the regulations’ absence (until the year 2003) in the Code of Civil Procedure.

The recognition and enforcement of foreign judicial and arbitration decisions has received more detailed regulations since the new Code of Civil Procedure of 30.05.2003, which,together with the Code of Civil Procedure, is regulated by series of multilateral and bilateral treaties.