Enforcement of Judgments 2023 Comparisons

In the Dominican Republic, there are different public registries available for consultation, depending on the nature of the assets. These registries allow the determination of the patrimonial position of a party, indicating if there is an opposition to, or seizure of, the transfer of assets:

• information regarding real estate is registered at Registry of Titles;
• motor vehicles are registered in the Tax Administration;
• the Chambers of Commerce manage the Mercantile Registries, where information can be obtained regarding the participation and ownership of shares in commercial companies registered in the Dominican Republic;
• the National Office of Industrial Property (ONAPI, for its Spanish acronym) manages information regarding the registration of industrial property; and
• the new Electronic System of Movable Guarantees (SEGM for its Spanish acronym) created in February 2023 includes information on the guarantees/collateral over movable assets, the execution of those guarantees and assignments. Prior to this registry, the recording of pledges over movable assets and the execution of pledges was done at the Peace Courts in the location of the assets.

There are no public registries for other types of asset, such as financial assets, which can be seized by a financial institution.

In addition, judges can issue orders that authorise the conservative seizure (embargoes) of assets that appear in the name of a party or that are in the hands of third parties. It is also possible to request the courts to issue an order for the disclosure of information that is in the hands and knowledge of a third party or that is protected by any legal norm.

In the Dominican legal system, there are different types of decisions that coexist, depending on the nature of the judicial process or the stage of process it is in.

First of all, there are preparatory sentences or judgments that facilitate the investigation of the case. Then there are the interlocutory sentences, which prejudge the merits of the case and decide on the procedural aspect. The final judgments decide the merits of the case.

Furthermore, there are default judgements if a party does not attend a hearing, and there are provisional judgments for precautionary measures. These sentences do not have res judicata and their validity is subject to what is decided regarding the main aspect of the decision.

When a party obtains a favourable judgment, they have the right to execute the judgment, since that is considered to be part of the fundamental right in effective judicial protection. In a general sense, the method of executing the judgments is determined through the so-called execution routes.

In essence, it is about the different types of seizures allowed by Dominican laws, with the use of each type depending on the nature of the property sought and the credit. When the credit is already in an execution title, the most typical seizures are as follows:

• a real estate seizure, which allows for the execution of real estate and the seizure of movable property;
• an executive seizure, which only serves for the execution of movable property; or
• a lien (a type of seizure of movable property) that admits the possibility of seizing property – tangible or intangible – held by a third party.

In the event of the insolvency of commercial companies, the processes will be regulated by Law 141-15 on Restructuring and Liquidation of Entities and Merchants, in a specialised jurisdiction. The execution and collection process will be subject to the ranking of preference of claims pursuant to the dispositions of said law.

The enforcement of a judgment will depend on the nature of the decision. Each different process has its own peculiarities, but most processes have some rules in common.

If there are assets involved, the creditor will have to request the execution of one of the following.

• Foreclosures have been the slowest processes, but Law 189-11 establishes an abbreviated process that reduces the timeline, limiting both incidents and access to an appeal. Under this process, the adjudication of the property can be achieved within six months to a year.
• Executive and retentive liens and garnishments may be faster, unless they are delayed by any incidents. In general, these can be achieved in three to six months. The cost depends on whether there are incidents that make the process more expensive. However, court fees are fixed and reasonably low.

The procedure exhausted post-judgment is the execution. Whoever has obtained a decision in their favour may request the pertinent information in the public records to determine the assets and equity of the counterparty. Once the assets are determined, they can simply be seized with the procedures detailed.

If there is information regarding assets that are in the hands of third parties, it is feasible to ask a judge to order the delivery thereof and to set a penalty in the event of resistance.

Under Dominican law, the defendant may challenge the enforcement first through an appeal. The right to appeal is provided in paragraph 9 of Article 69 of the Dominican Constitution and may take the form of a recourse before a superior instance or the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), or a review of the decision.

Regardless of the nature of the litigation, the appeal must be discussed in at least two instances. The basis of an appeal can be diverse, due to violations of the forms or substance of the process, or due to substantive aspects regarding the application of the law.

Once the judgment has been appealed, the suspension of the execution can be requested if the decision contains errors or displeasing violations. Prior to the new Cassation Law 2-23 enacted in 2023, appeals before the Supreme Court (Cassation) suspended the execution automatically, but nowadays, pursuant to Article 27 of such law, the parties will need to request the suspension of enforcement and execution of the judgment in all instances.

As a general law, all judgments rendered by domestic courts can be enforced. As explained in 2.2 Enforcement of Domestic Judgments, this is considered part of the effective judicial protection (due process).

However, there are particular rules that protect certain types of assets – eg, labour law protects wages from garnishments. Likewise, certain state assets are protected and cannot be seized, because they are in the public domain and serve the general interest. The bank accounts of the Dominican state cannot be subject to retentive embargo.

Outside of these cases, there is no further legislation that prevents the enforcement of a judgment that has not been challenged.

There is no central registry of all judgments issued by Dominican courts. Nonetheless, with few exceptions, all decisions issued by the Dominican courts are of a public nature and can be accessed at the corresponding court. Some courts have electronic databases that record decisions from past years. Once a decision has been issued, there is no way to remove it from that court’s record, even if the decision was overturned by a later appeal or cassation.

If a debtor pays off their debt and signs an agreement that establishes such, it is recommended to file such agreement before the jurisdiction and to request its approval, so that the agreement is recognised jointly with the record created with the decision of the court (homologado).

Nevertheless, the removal of information held by credit information companies can be requested via recourse of habeas data. The law that regulates this type of entity allows the request to update or eliminate data, about 48 months after the payment.

In Dominican law there is a single procedure for the recognition and enforcement of contentious judgments issued abroad. In accordance with Article 89 of Law 544-14 on International Private Law, foreign judgments will be recognised in the Dominican Republic, unless the sentence falls within the exceptions that appear in Article 90, detailed in 3.3 Categories of Foreign Judgments Not Enforced.

To enforce these foreign judgments, the judgment shall be submitted to obtain an exequatur before the Civil and Commercial Chamber of the National District Court of First Instance. After the exequatur has been granted, the foreign judgment becomes an enforceable title. For purposes of obtaining the exequatur, the judgment must be apostilled and translated into Spanish, if necessary.

Regarding treaties, the Dominican Republic is part of the Bustamante Code on private international law, which establishes the norms for international private law regulation in Latin America.

Law 544-14 indicates that contentious judgments shall be submitted for the exequatur process referred to in 3.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Foreign Judgments.

However, judgments that are related to the capacity of the people, family relationships (divorces, adoptions, determination of heirs, etc) and personality rights will not require the exequatur procedure in order to be recognised and enforced locally.

The exequatur and enforceability of a foreign judgment can be denied by Dominican courts in the following instances:

• if it is contrary to public order;
• if the judgment was rendered in default and there is no evidence of a summons to a person or address;
• if there is a contradiction of judgments; or
• if the judgment does not meet the authenticity and validity requirements of the country of origin of the judgment and the Dominican Republic, etc.

Likewise, the exequatur will not be granted if the judgment refers to issues that are specifically attributed to national judges, including the following matters:

• real rights and leases of real estate located in Dominican territory;
• the constitution, validity, nullity or dissolution of a commercial company domiciled in the Dominican Republic;
• the validity or nullity of registrations made in a Dominican registry;
• processes related to the determination of Dominican nationality;
• the recognition in Dominican territory of arbitral awards issued abroad;
• conservative or precautionary measures enforceable in the Dominican Republic; and
• the registration or validity of patents that have been registered in the Dominican Republic.

As mentioned in 3.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Foreign Judgments, the process to obtain the recognition and execution of a foreign judgment is called exequatur, and is described in Article 91 of Law 544-14. This process is an instance that is known administratively (graciosa) – ie, it is not contradictory. The competent judge is the Civil and Commercial Chamber of the National District Court of First Instance. Once the file has been verified, the judge issues an order by which the request is accepted or rejected.

Based on the existing laws, Dominican courts will ratify and give exequatur to such a judgment if it:

• does not contravene the public order according to the principles and laws applicable in the Dominican Republic;
• does not contravene any other judgment issued for the same case among the same parties, prior in time, regardless of the country where such other judgment was issued;
• complies with all formalities required for the enforceability thereof under the laws of the country where it was issued;
• has been translated into Spanish by an official translator, together with related documents, and satisfies the authentication requirements under Dominican law;
• was issued by a competent court after valid service of process upon the parties to the action;
• was issued after the defendant was given an opportunityto present its defence; and
• is not subject to further appeal.

The decision that grants an exequatur takes approximately three to six months. However, that decision may be subject to appeal, so the time could be extended by another year for the appeal or by two years if there is an appeal before the Supreme Court. The costs (excluding fees) are relatively low, at a maximum of USD500. If the counterpart does not comply with the decision voluntarily and it is necessary to initiate the so-called enforcement procedures, the deadlines would be those mentioned in 2.3 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Domestic Judgments.

The remedy established in Article 90 of Law 544-14 is that of an appeal governed by the rules of common law, with all that this implies.

Therefore, the president of the Court of Appeal acting as judge of the referrals has the power to suspend a ruling that has been appealed; consequently, the suspension of the sentence is also a possibility. Similarly, in view of the judgment of the appeal court, there is a possibility that it may be appealed before the Supreme Court of Justice (casación). Even though it is an extraordinary appeal, the Dominican legal system admits the review of a decision issued by the Supreme Court of Justice before the Constitutional Court.

In accordance with Law 489-08 on commercial arbitration, awards dictated by an arbitral tribunal either in Dominican territory or abroad are enforceable in the Dominican Republic. Nevertheless, for enforcement and execution the parties shall request the exequatur established by the arbitration law itself.

This procedure implies filing the original award before the Civil and Commercial Chamber of the National District Court of First Instance, requesting the execution of the arbitration clause or the contract that contains the clause. Like judgments, the award is examined by the court in an administrative way (graciosa). The decision on the exequatur may be challenged before the Court of Appeal.

Awards issued by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Centres of the different Chambers of Commerce of the Dominican Republic will not need to obtain exequatur for their enforceability. This exception to the rule of obtaining exequatur is contained in Law 181-09.

In principle, all arbitral awards can be enforced in the Dominican Republic. However, the Law on Commercial Arbitration establishes some causes that may lead to the court rejecting the recognition and granting of the exequatur. Some of these grounds are linked to the content of the award, including that:

• the arbitral award refers to a controversy not provided for in the arbitration agreement, or contains decisions that exceed the terms of the arbitration agreement;
• according to the law of the Dominican Republic, the object of the controversy is not subject to resolution by arbitration; and
• the recognition or enforcement of the award was contrary to the public order of the Dominican Republic.

To achieve recognition of the award, the law provides that the interested party shall file an instance of request before the Civil and Commercial Chamber of the National District Court of First Instance, attaching the original of the award and the arbitration agreement or the contract where the arbitration clause is included.

The process is handled administratively (jurisdicción graciosa) – ie, it is not contradictory. If the court considers that the conditions established by law are met, it issues an order granting the corresponding exequatur, without knowing the factual merits of the case. The requirements of the Dominican Commercial Arbitration Law are the same as the New York Convention of 1958, to which the Dominican Republic is party.

Obtaining a decision/order granting an exequatur of an arbitral award takes approximately three to six months. However, this decision is subject to appeal, so the time could be extended by another year for the appeal or by two years if there is an appeal to the Supreme Court.

The costs (excluding fees) are relatively low, depending on the parties involved, with an average of USD500. If the counterparty does not comply with the award voluntarily and it is necessary to initiate the so-called enforcement procedures, then the deadlines would be those mentioned in 2.3 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Domestic Judgments.

In the event of an appeal against the order granting the exequatur, Law 489-08 provides that it will be known in accordance with the annulment process established by the law itself before the competent Court of Appeal. Also, an appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice could be filed against the decision issued by the Court of Appeal.