There are no international treaties between France in Japan regarding the recognition and enforcement process. Therefore, the recognition of a Japanese judgment in France will be carried out according to French internal regulations.
After a lot of discussion, the Cour de cassation ruled that French courts must verify that the foreign Judgment meets 3 conditions (Cass.Civ February 20th, 2007 n°05-14082). The French judge will verify that:
- The foreign Court has proper jurisdiction under French law,
- The foreign Judgment complies with French procedural and substantive public policies,
- The foreign Judgment was rendered without fraudulent forum shopping (evasion of the law)
These 3 conditions apply cumulatively which means that the foreign Judgment’s recognition will be denied if one of them is not met.
French courts had to deal with the recognition of Japanese judgments quite often. For instance, in a 2010 case, the Paris Court of appeal held that a Japanese divorce decree could be recognized since it complied with the conditions set forth in the Cornelissen case (Paris Court of appeal, February 18th, 2010 N° 06/12692).
In 2003, the Cour de cassation (French Supreme Court), held that a Japanese judgment awarding damages for injuries sustained in Japan could be recognized and enforced because, among other things, it was not contrary to French international procedural public policy (Cass. Civ, December 9th, 2003 N° 01-15.693).
More recently, the Paris Court of appeal held that an arbitral award rendered in Tokyo, Japan was enforceable because it complied with the required conditions (Paris Court of appeal December 10th 2013 N° 12/06033).
If you want to know how to recognize a Japanese judgment in France you can visit this page. If you want to know how to seize the assets of a debtor in France you can visit this page.
As a French-American attorney, I am well versed in these kind of procedures. I can assist you and optimize your chances of success. If you need advice on your case, you can contact me by phone or use the Contact form at the bottom of the home page.