Civil Enforcement Act

If a claim involves the occurrence of a fact that an obligee is required to prove, the court clerk or notary may grant an attestation of enforceability only once the obligee has produced a document or electronic or magnetic record proving that the fact has occurred.

The court clerk or notary may grant an attestation of enforceability naming a person other than the party indicated in the title of obligation as the obligee or obligor, but only if it is apparent to the court clerk or notary that judicial enforcement may be carried out for or against that person, or if the obligee has produced a document or electronic or magnetic record proving this.

If any of the following grounds are present in connection with the title of obligation and there are special circumstances that make it difficult to identify the person in possession of the immovable property before its delivery or eviction is enforced based on that title of obligation, the court clerk or notary may grant an attestation of enforceability without specifying the obligor, but only if the obligee has produced a document or electronic or magnetic record proving this:

the title of obligation indicates a claim for the delivery or eviction of immovable property, an order of provisional disposition prohibiting the transfer of possession (meaning an order of provisional disposition prohibiting the transfer of possession prescribed in Article 25-2, paragraph (1) of the Civil Provisional Remedies Act (Act No. 91 of 1989)) has been carried out in connection with the principal proceedings involving that claim, and Article 62, paragraph (1) of the Civil Provisional Remedies Act permits the obligee to enforce delivery or surrender against the person in possession of the immovable property based on that title of obligation; or

the title of obligation is an order under the main clause of Article 83, paragraph (1) (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 188) issued in proceedings for a compulsory auction (including the auctioning of property as a means of enforcing a security interest; the same applies in this item) (referred to as a "delivery order" below), the provisional order stated in any of (a) through (c) below or the provisional order to post a public notice (meaning the provisional order to post a public notice provided for in Article 55, paragraph (1); the same applies in this paragraph) stated in any of (a) through (c) below has been carried out against the person with a duty to deliver the property named in the delivery order in those proceedings, and the provisions of Article 83-2, paragraph (1) (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 187, paragraph (5) or Article 188) permit the obligee to enforce delivery against the person in possession of the immovable property based on that delivery order:

the provisional order stated in Article 55, paragraph (1), item (iii) and the provisional order to post a public notice stated in that item (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 188); or

the provisional order stated in Article 77, paragraph (1), item (iii) or provisional order to post a public notice stated in that item (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 188);

the provisional order provided for in Article 187, paragraph (1) or provisional order to post a public notice provided for in that paragraph (limited to one stated in Article 55, paragraph (1), item (iii)).

Judicial enforcement based on an authenticated copy of a title of obligation bearing an attestation of enforceability as referred to in the preceding paragraph may only be carried out before the expiration of four weeks from the day on which the attestation of enforceability is granted, and only if the person in possession can be identified at the time the immovable property is removed from their possession through judicial enforcement.

When judicial enforcement that is based on an authenticated copy of a title of obligation bearing an attestation of enforceability granted pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (3) is carried out pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the person that has had the immovable property removed from their possession as a result of enforcement becomes the obligor.

An additional attestation of enforceability may be granted, but only if multiple authenticated copies of a title of obligation bearing an attestation of enforceability are required to receive full performance of a claim or if the authenticated copy bearing the attestation has been lost.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph apply mutatis mutandis if an additional authenticated copy or certificate of recorded information is issued of a final and binding judgment in a small claims action, or of a judgment in a small claims action or demand for payment bearing a declaration of provisional enforcement.

Judicial enforcement may begin only if an authenticated copy or transcript of a title of obligation or of a judicial decision that becomes a title of obligation once it is final and binding or an electronic or magnetic record related to that title of obligation or judicial decision has been served upon the obligor in advance or at the same time. If an attestation of enforceability has been granted pursuant to the provisions of Article 27, transcripts of the attestation of enforceability or electronic or magnetic records related to the attestation of enforceability and transcript of the document produced by the obligee pursuant to the provisions of that Article or an electronic or magnetic record by recording all matters recorded in the electronic or magnetic record produced by the obligee pursuant to the provisions of that Article must also have been served in advance or at the same time.

If a claim involves the arrival of a fixed due date, judicial enforcement may begin only after the arrival of that due date.

Judicial enforcement based on a title of obligation that establishes provision of security as a condition for implementing judicial enforcement may begin only once the obligee produces a document proving that the obligee has provided security.

If an obligor's performance is due in exchange for counter-performance, judicial enforcement may begin only once the obligee proves that counter-performance has been made or tendered.

If an obligor's performance is due in lieu of some other performance in a case in which the purpose of judicial enforcement cannot be achieved for that other performance, judicial enforcement may begin only once the obligee proves that the purpose of judicial enforcement could not be achieved for that other performance.

An opposition may be filed to a measure connected with a petition to grant an attestation of enforceability; for measures by a court clerk, a person may file an opposition with the court to which the court clerk belongs, and for measures by a notary, a person may file an opposition with the district court having jurisdiction in the locality of the notary's office.

If an opposition has been filed to the granting of an attestation of enforceability, the court may order a stay of enforcement until a judicial decision on the opposition is made, while either requiring or not requiring security to be provided, or may issue an order for enforcement to continue until a judicial decision on the opposition is made, with requiring security to be provided. If there are pressing circumstances, the presiding judge may also order these measures.

The court may render a judicial decision on a petition under paragraph (1) or a judicial decision under the preceding paragraph without hearing oral arguments.

A judicial decision as provided in the preceding paragraph may not be appealed.

The provisions of the preceding paragraphs apply mutatis mutandis to the issuance of an authenticated copy or certificate of recorded information of a final and binding judgment in a small claims action or of a judgment in a small claims action or demand for payment bearing a declaration of provisional enforcement under Article 28, paragraph (2).

If an obligee is unable to produce the document or electronic or magnetic record prescribed in Article 27, paragraph (1) or (2), the obligee may file an action seeking an attestation of enforceability to ask for an attestation of enforceability to be granted (excluding one that is granted pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (3) of that Article).

The court provided in the following relevant items has jurisdiction over an action as stated in the preceding paragraph for the category of title of obligation stated in that item:

a title of obligation as stated in Article 22, items (i) through (iii) or items (vi) through (vi)-5, or a title of obligation as stated in item (vii) of that Article other than one as stated in the following item, item (i)-3, or item (vi):the court of first instance;

a title of obligation as stated in Article 22, item (iii)-2, or a title of obligation as stated in item (vii) of that Article that relates to an order for damages or to a settlement or acknowledgment of a claim in the proceedings of a case involving an order for damages:the district court before which the order for damages is pending;

a title of obligation as stated in Article 22, item (iii)-3 or a title of obligation as stated in item (vii) of that Article that relates to an order to pay a filed claim, or to approval or denial of a filed claim or a settlement in simple determination proceedings:the district court before which the simple determination proceedings were pending;

a title of obligation as stated in Article 22, item (iv), other than one as stated in the following item:the summary court to which the court clerk who has issued the demand for payment bearing a declaration of provisional enforcement belongs (or, if the claim connected with that demand is not under the jurisdiction of the summary court, the district court having jurisdiction in the locality of the summary court);

a title of obligation as stated in Article 22, item (iv) that is based on a petition for a demand for payment filed with the court clerk of a designated summary court under Article 397 of the Code of Civil Procedure:the court with which an action is deemed to have been filed pursuant to the provisions of Article 398 of that Act as it concerns that petition;

a title of obligation as stated in Article 22, item (iv)-2:the court to which the court clerk who has taken the measure stated in that item belongs;

a title of obligation as stated in Article 22, item (v):the court having jurisdiction in the locality of the general venue for the obligor (or, if the obligor has no general venue, the court having jurisdiction in the locality of the subject matter of the claim or the obligor's seizable property); and

a title of obligation as stated in Article 22, item (vii) that relates to a settlement or mediation (excluding a settlement or mediation reached in an upper instance court) or to a labor tribunal decision (excluding a title of obligation as stated in item (i)-2 or (i)-3):the summary court, district court, or family court where the settlement or mediation is reached (or, if the claim involved in the settlement or mediation that is reached in summary court is not under the jurisdiction of the summary court, the district court having jurisdiction in the locality of the summary court), or the district court before which the labor tribunal case is pending when the labor tribunal decision is made.