Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments ° Recognition and enforcement ° Grounds for refusal ° Failure duly and timeously to serve the document instituting the proceedings on the absent defendant ° Concept of document instituting the proceedings or equivalent document ° Document enabling the defendant to assert his rights before an enforceable judgment is given ° Order for payment under Italian law served jointly with the plaintiff' s application ° Included

(Convention of 27 September 1968, Art. 27(2))

Summary

The term "document instituting the proceedings or equivalent document" within the meaning of Article 27(2) of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, as amended by the Convention of 9 October 1978 on the accession of the Kingdom of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, means the document or documents which must be duly and timeously served on the defendant in order to enable him to assert his rights before an enforceable judgment is given in the State of origin. The decreto ingiuntivo within the meaning of Book IV of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure (Articles 633 to 656), together with the application instituting the proceedings, must therefore be regarded as "the document which instituted proceedings or ... an equivalent document" within the meaning of that provision, since their joint service starts time running for the defendant to oppose the order and since the plaintiff cannot obtain an enforceable order before the expiry of that time-limit.