The First District Court of Bucharest held that not every judgment establishing an uncontested claim justifies the issuance of a European enforcement order certificate. Given that the debtor actively challenged the claims at all stages of the proceedings – first instance, appeal and higher appeal – the judgments against him do not qualify for certification as European enforcement orders.
The Court held that the European Union law allows the certification of judgments as European enforcement orders only in respect of uncontested claims. At the same time, the Court of Justice of the European Union has defined the notion of “uncontested claim”. More specifically, this notion includes, inter alia, situations where a creditor has obtained a judgment against a debtor who has not contested the nature and amount of the claim. Failure to contest is equivalent to inaction on the part of the debtor (either by failing to appear at the court hearing or by ignoring the court’s invitation to submit written defences).
However, given that the debtor has actively contested the claims at all stages of the proceedings – by lodging a statement of defence and by exercising his rights of appeal – there can be no question of the existence of uncontested claims which would justify the issue of European enforcement order certificates.
