Lithuania - Enforcement of Money Judgments

According to Lithuanian legislation, judgments of the foreign courts are recognized and enforced in the Republic of Lithuania in accordance with the international treaties. In case of absence of the respective treaty, judgments of the foreign courts are recognized subject to the legal grounds set forth within the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania. Thus, the legal grounds for enforcement of foreign courts’ judgments in Lithuania currently are the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as the Code of Civil procedure), bilateral (trilateral) treaties on mutual legal assistance as well as some other international treaties ratified by Lithuania not related specifically just to implementation of foreign court judgments. It is worth noting that there is specific European Union (hereinafter referred to as EU) legislation, regulating enforcement of the judgments of the courts of the Member States of EU that will be described thereinafter. After accession of the Republic of Lithuania to EU, the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania was supplemented by new chapter related specifically to the order for recognition and enforcement of the judgments of the courts of EU Members States.

As a general rule, the judgments of the foreign courts, except for the judgments of the courts of the EU Members States, may be enforced in the Republic of Lithuania only after they are recognized by the competent court of the Republic of Lithuania. In essence, the same legal rules are applicable to the court rulings as well as the settlement agreements approved by the foreign courts. The foreign court judgments, including arbitral awards, are enforced according to the general order applicable to national judgments, unless specific rules set forth by the Code of Civil procedure applies.