China Enforces a French Judgment for the Third Time

Key takeaways:

• In 2020, the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People’s Court ruled to recognize and enforce a monetary judgment (ordonnance) of the Commercial Court of Paris, France.
• This is the third time that a Chinese court has recognized and enforced a French judgment, and the second time that a Chinese court has recognized and enforced a judgment of the Paris Commercial Court.
• In this case, the Chinese court granted an application for interim measures (preservation of property).

At the end of 2020, the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People’s Court (the “Beijing Court”) recognized and enforced a monetary judgment (ordonnance) of the Commercial Court of Paris, France.

We obtained the information about this case from a press conference held by the Beijing Court on 28 Dec. 2022, but the original judgment is currently unavailable.

This case was published as one of the “Top Ten Enforcement Cases on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards and Court Judgments by the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People’s Court”.

Ⅰ. Case Overview

At the end of 2020, the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People’s Court ruled to recognize and enforce the judgment (ordonnance) issued by the Paris Commercial Court on 3 June 2015, which approved a settlement agreement and granted enforceability of the settlement agreement. The case amount was more than 46 million USD.

In a previous post, we introduced the interim measures taken by the Beijing Court in the enforcement process of this case. More information about the case has been disclosed by the Beijing Court.

Related Post:

• Is Preservation of Property Available during Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgment in China?

In this case, a limited company and Wu signed a Letter of Intent, pursuant to which Wu shall pay more than USD 46 million to the limited company. The Paris Commercial Court issued a judgment (ordonnance) granting the Letter of Intent enforceability. After the issuance of the judgment, Wu failed to make payment in accordance with the deadline stipulated in the Letter of Intent.

As Wu’s property is located in Beijing, the limited company applied to the Beijing Court for recognition and enforcement of the above-mentioned ruling (including the Letter of Intent granted with enforceability). After examining the application, the Beijing Court ruled to recognize and enforce the ruling issued by the Paris Commercial Court.

Since the Respondent, Wu, failed to comply with the ruling rendered by the Beijing Court, the Beijing Court took measures to restrict high-level consumption against the Respondent and enforce his equity interest in a company in Fujian Province, China. However, due to the unsuccessful price valuation of such equity interest, the enforcement failed.

Finally, Beijing Court only enforced the insurance policy in the name of the Respondent with a value of CNY 190,000 (approx. USD 27,144).

Ⅱ. Our Comments

This is the third time that a Chinese court has recognized and enforced a French judgment, and the second time that a Chinese court has recognized and enforced a judgment of the Paris Commercial Court.

Prior to this, China has twice recognized and enforced French judgments. For details, please see our posts below:

• Chinese Court Recognizes and Enforces a French Judgment of Bobigny Commercial Court in 2017
• Chinese Court Recognizes and Enforces a French Judgment of the Paris Commercial Court in 2017

China and France have concluded a judicial assistance treaty on mutual recognition of civil and commercial judgments, which clears the way for the recognition and enforcement of French judgments in China.

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