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Recognition of Foreign Judicial Decisions in Comparative Perspective
Recognition of judicial decisions permits decisions to move “freely” from one
State to another. Since it fights against the “foreignity argument”, it avoids a
judicial decision to be rejected in another State simply because of its foreign
origin. Recognition of judicial decisions in the European Union has a special
form – mutual recognition of judicial decisions. It is a key element of the judicial
co-operation both in civil matters and criminal matters. Since the Treaty of Lisbon
came into force, its implementation has been one of the main areas of European
Union activity regarding justice.
The Treaty on Functioning of the European Union stipulates, as regards cooperation
in civil matters, that the European Union “shall develop judicial cooperation
in civil matters having cross-border implications, based on the principle
of mutual recognition of judgments and of decisions in extrajudicial cases” [Article
81(1) of the Treaty; emphasis added]. As regards co-operation in criminal
matters, it stipulates that “[j]udicial co-operation in criminal matters in the Union
shall be based on the principle of mutual recognition of judgments and judicial
decisions” [Article 81(2) of the Treaty; emphasis added]. Moreover, mutual recognition
has been constantly referred as cornerstone of judicial co-operation by
institutions of the European Union. For example, the Court of Justice of the European
Union in case of the European arrest warrant has repeatedly highlighted
its importance [for example, in judgment in case C-303/05 – Advocaten voor de
Wereld, para. 4; judgment in case C-168/13 PPU – Jeremy F., para. 36; judgment
in joined cases C-562/21 PPU and C-563/21 PPU – X and Y, paras. 3 and 43].
On the one hand, mutual recognition of judicial decisions is objective of the
Treaty on Functioning of the European Union. On the other hand, its implementation
and application depend on Member States of the European Union.
At the Faculty of Law of the Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, the
Slovak Republic, scientists deal with implementation of mutual recognition of
judicial decisions in criminal matters into the legal order of the Slovak Republic
– within the research project VEGA No. 1/0004/20 “Implementation of Mutual
Recognition of Judicial Decisions in Criminal Matters into the Legal Order of the
Slovak Republic” [Slovak: Zavedenie vzájomného uznávania justičných rozhodnutí
v trestných veciach do právneho poriadku Slovenskej republiky]. The head of
the project is doc. JUDr. et PhDr. mult. Libor Klimek, PhD., Dr. h. c. It is funded
by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research
and Sport of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences.
12
RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN JUDICIAL DECISIONS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
On 12th of December 2022, in the framework of above-mentioned project
took place international scientific conference on the topic “Recognition of Foreign
Judicial Decisions in Comparative Perspective”. It was organised at the Faculty
of Law of the Matej Bel University. The objective of the international scientific
conference was to present the results of research activities in the field of recognition
of decisions in all areas of law, to facilitate the co-operation in cross-border
cases and sharing theoretical and practical knowledge in comparative perspective.
Participants of the conference were from six States, namely the Slovak Republic,
the Czech Republic, the Italian Republic, Republic of Poland, the Republic of
Lithuania and the Russian Federation.
The monograph is output of the conference “Recognition of Foreign Judicial
Decisions in Comparative Perspective”.
