The Republic of Cyprus has well established itself as a point of reference in terms of international trade and economy and its achievements do not get unattended.
In a highly interdependent world Cyprus strives not only to keep up but if and when possible to promote and inspire tools and policies in order to facilitate international business and growth.
Within this framework Cyprus has placed much of its attention on the recognition of Judicial/ Court decisions both as a host but also as a producer of such decisions, and that has been both the work and the outcome of a number of international agreements that promote and further establish the international and outward-looking identity of the Cypriot economy.
Having said that and to begin with, Cyprus has well signed and has been upholding the status of the following bilateral conventions which have been signed long ago with certain state entities, some of which have been replaced within the course of years by their respective differentiated successors:
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- With Czechoslovakia, law 68/82
- With Hungary, law 7/83
- With Bulgaria, law 18/84
- With Greece, law 55/84
- With Syria, law 160/86
- With the USSR, law 172/86
- With Yugoslavia, law 179/86
- With Egypt, law 32(ΙΙΙ)/92
- With China, law 19(ΙΙΙ)/95
- With Poland, law 10(ΙΙΙ)/97
So, these certain agreements have been framing and facilitating the work and cooperation of judicial authorities between Cyprus and the aforementioned Countries or their successors as the case is with many of these such as the former Czechoslovakia, the former USSR or even the former unified state entity of Yugoslavia.
In the course of the years Cyprus has become a member of additional conventions with regards to the recognition and enforcement of foreign judicial/ court decisions in civil and commercial law cases, one of them being the International Hague Convention of 1971, which however has been signed by merely the following signatories:
Cyprus, Albania, Kuwait, Portugal and the Netherlands
Another convention of similar content and intent, however of quite an extensive caliber given that more than sixty countries constitute its signatories, is the New York Arbitration Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, signed on June 10, 1958, whose essence and objective practically could be summarized in the following few words at least according to the actual website of the Convention as such: “the New York Convention applies to the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards and the referral by a court to arbitration”.
In light of the above, it is only normal to suggest that Cyprus has been effortlessly and continuously trying to facilitate the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgements by introducing even lately, and in particular in 2000, law 121(Ι)/2000 which – among other arrangements – provides for the appointment of the Minister of Justice and Public Order as the competent body regarding any foreign judgement which is to be recognized and enforced within the territory of the Republic of Cyprus as provided for by the just aforementioned legal framework.
Finally, Regulation (EU) nr. 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and Council, as of December 12, 2012 forms the last piece of the international legal puzzle of which Cyprus constitutes a member by regulating all issues with regards to international jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of foreign civil and commercial matters
