Myanmar (Burma) - Enforcement of Money Judgments

As a result of the fact that Myanmar was a part of British India, the laws of British India were fully applicable to Myanmar until independence. After Myanmar gained its independence in 1948, previous laws, including that of India, are still in force, unless repealed. The provisions relating to foreign judgments are embedded in the Code of Civil Procedure of 1909 (“the Code of Civil Procedure”), which was an India Act No. 5 of 1908. The government of Myanmar was replaced with a coup in 1962 and many previous laws and some provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure were somewhat dormant throughout the socialist regime. In 1988, the rule of the socialist government ended and market-oriented reforms were introduced. From that time onwards, many laws dormant have become active and there are numerous new reported cases. To date, however, none of involves enforcement of foreign judgments. There are few olden reported cases decided on foreign judgment. Among them, the latest reported case was decided in 1951. It is therefore impossible to precisely predict the receptiveness of the Myanmar government and courts toward enforcement of foreign judgments in the modern day. Myanmar has not acceded to any treaty of enforcement of foreign judgment. Indian case law, secondary authority in Myanmar, is often relied upon below since there is no explicit Myanmar precedent for some of the legal points covered herein.