Reform of Singapore's foreign judgment rules

• Main Author: CHONG, Adeline
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2019
• Subjects: Asian Studies; International Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/2961; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/4919/viewcontent/Reform_of_Singapore.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

On 3rd October, the amendments to the Reciprocal Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act (“REFJA”) came into force. REFJA is based on the UK Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1933, but in this recent round of amendments has deviated in some significant ways from the 1933 Act. The limitation to judgments from “superior courts” has been removed. Foreign interlocutory orders such as freezing orders and foreign non-money judgments now fall within the scope of REFJA. So too do judicial settlements, which are defined in identical terms to the definition contained in the Choice of Court Agreements Act 2016 (which enacted the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements into Singapore law).