Legal Corner: Foreign judgments against residents in Qatar Thursday, 09 June 2011 00:51

There is no doubt that the world is a small village in the light of an information and communication revolution which has shortened distances and facilitated the transition from one place to another. Information has become like water and air which is freely available to all on the Internet and the communication between inhabitants of the Earth in the East and West became easy and borderless.

In light of this development and progress, a convict no longer has a place to escape to and from the clutches of law and justice. The grip of the law can encircle the suspects and convicts in every place.

In order to achieve justice and maintain the security and safety of people in all corners of the world, countries have agreed on the cooperation and participation to fight crime and prosecute the offenders wherever they are. Therefore, we find the international organisations such as Interpol and international treaties between countries with regard to combating crime in general. Therefore, we shed light on the issue of implementation of foreign judgments against convicts residing in the State of Qatar. The Procedure Law No 13/1999 regarding the implementation of foreign judgments in Qatar points out that the civil and criminal judgments and orders issued in a foreign country may be implemented in Qatar if the convicted person resides here, on condition of reciprocity.

The procedures of implementation start when an application for the enforcement is submitted to a judge in the civil high court against the convicted person. The application for the enforcement is recorded in the enforcement court and the opponent, the convicted person, is asked to appear before the judge of enforcement in the civil high court and he must declare in the court his place of residence and place of work in Qatar.

Note that the order shall be enforced only after checking the validity of the jurisdiction of the foreign court which has issued the judgment that is intended to be enforced in Qatar according to the rules of the international jurisdiction prescribed in the law. It is necessary that the opponents in the case in which the judgment has been issued, was obligated to attend and had been represented properly during the handling of the issue.

It also obliges that the judgment or the order to be implemented became enforceable as well it is not subject to appeal in accordance with the law of the court which issued it. It has to be confirmed that the judgment or order does not conflict with the judgment or order that was previously issued by a court in Qatar and the judgment or order does not contain what is contrary to public order or morals in Qatar.

The same shall be applied to the official documents, whereas it is not allowed to order to implement what it contained only after checking the availability of the conditions required for the official nature of the documents and its ability to implement in accordance with the law of the country in which it was done.

The bond must be free from what is contrary to the public order or morals in Qatar.

The Peninsula