Our team of Lawyers have extensive experience in dealing with Cross-border disputes. Often contractual disputes arise where one party might be situated outside of the English jurisdiction.
It has become increasingly common for Companies to interact with other Companies in other Countries. As a result of this, there are occasions where a dispute might arise between the parties and we can advise you on the appropriate solutions.
We understand that clients will often be put off at the thought of complex cross border disputes or will write off bad debts because they believe that it will be too difficult to recover these, if the debtor resides abroad. However, this is not the position at all. We can advise our clients on the various options and recent developments in the law make it easier to secure judgments abroad.
We currently act for a number of clients in recovery of their debts (in excess of £1m) in countries such as Spain, France, Switzerland, British Virgin Islands etc.
If the Country is part of the European Union, there are a number of regulations to assist in both issuing proceedings and enforcing judgments. It is possible to obtain a European Enforcement Order (EEO) which simplifies procedures. There is also a European Enforcement Order for Payment which seeks to provide a uniform, rapid and efficient debt recovery mechanism. This is an effective one stop process to recover the judgment debt without dispute.
Non EU Countries are governed by various rules but procedurally it is fairly straight forward to pursue a claim.
The enforcement options available will depend on the individual Country but typically, these can be in the same form as those enforcement options within the UK i.e. bankruptcy proceedings, attachment of earnings, obtaining freezing orders or charges.
