Public Consultation on Proposed Amendments to the Reciprocal Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act

15 APR 2019

15 Apr 2019 Posted in Press releases

  1. The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) launched a public consultation today to seek views on a draft bill to amend the Reciprocal Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act (the “Bill”). The consultation period is from 15 April 2019 to 24 May 2019.

  2. The Reciprocal Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act (REFJA), together with the Reciprocal Enforcement of Commonwealth Judgments Act (RECJA), facilitate the registration, and subsequent enforcement, of foreign judgments in Singapore. Currently, only judgments from the superior courts of a total of 11 jurisdictions may be registered under the REFJA and the RECJA.

  3. The Bill will enhance the current regime in three main ways. First, it will streamline the legislative framework by repealing the RECJA, leaving a single statute, the REFJA, to govern the registration of foreign judgments in Singapore. Final money judgments from Commonwealth jurisdictions and Hong Kong will continue to be registrable under the REFJA. Second, it will expand the range of foreign judgments that may be registered under the REFJA to include judicial settlements, non-money judgments, interlocutory orders, and judgments other than those from foreign superior courts. As the regime works on a reciprocal basis, this will in turn enable a wider range of Singapore judgments to be registered and enforced overseas. Third, it will create new grounds for refusing the registration (or setting aside the registration) of a foreign judgment, and/or limiting enforcement of a foreign judgment that has already been registered.

Invitation for feedback

  1. Interested members of the public are invited to view the public consultation paper in Annex A.
  1. All feedback should be titled “REFJA (Amendment) Bill public consultation comments” and submitted by 24 May 2019 via post or email to:

International Legal Division

Ministry of Law

100 High Street

#08-02 The Treasury

Singapore 179434

E-mail: MLAW_Consultation@mlaw.gov.sg

Last updated on 25 Apr 2019