Foreign Judgments Act 1991

If the Governor‑General is satisfied that, in the event of the benefits conferred by this Part being applied to money judgments given in the superior courts of a country, substantial reciprocity of treatment will be assured in relation to the enforcement in that country of money judgments given in all Australian superior courts, the regulations may provide that this Part extends in relation to that country.

A specified court of such a country is taken to be a superior court for the purposes of this Act if the regulations so provide, but a failure so to provide in relation to a particular court is not taken to imply that the court is not a superior court for the purposes of this Act.

If the Governor‑General is satisfied that, in the event of the benefits conferred by this Part being applied to money judgments given in all or some inferior courts of such a country, substantial reciprocity of treatment will be assured in relation to the enforcement in that country of money judgments given in all or some Australian inferior courts, the regulations may provide that this Part extends in relation to specified inferior courts of that country.

This Part applies to an enforceable money judgment that:

is final and conclusive; and

was given in:

a superior court of a country in relation to which this Part extends; or

an inferior court of such a country, being an inferior court in relation to which this Part extends.

For the purposes of paragraph (4)(a), a judgment is taken to be final and conclusive even though:

an appeal may be pending against it; or

it may still be subject to appeal;

If the Governor‑General is satisfied that, in the event of the benefits conferred by this Part being applied to all or some non‑money judgments given in courts of a country in relation to which this Part extends, substantial reciprocity of treatment will be assured in relation to the enforcement in that country of all or some non‑money judgments given in Australian courts, the regulations may provide that this Part applies to such non‑money judgments, given in the courts of that country, as are prescribed.

Regulations made for the purposes of subsection (6) must provide for the kinds of non‑money judgments, given in the courts of a country, to which this Part applies by specifying or describing:

the courts in which such non‑money judgments are given; and

the kinds of proceedings in which such non‑money judgments are given; and

the kinds of non‑money judgments.

This Part does not apply to:

a money judgment given by a superior court of a country before the day on which the regulations extend this Part in relation to that country; or

a money judgment given by an inferior court before the day on which the regulations extend this Part in relation to that court; or

a non‑money judgment of a particular kind given in a court in proceedings of a particular kind before the day on which the regulations apply this Part to non‑money judgments of that kind given in that court in proceedings of that kind;

the judgment was given by a court of the United Kingdom; or

the judgment was, immediately before that day, registrable in the Supreme Court of a State or Territory under a law of that State or Territory.

This Part does not apply to a judgment given by a superior court on appeal from a judgment given by an inferior court, unless the judgment of the inferior court is a judgment to which this Part applies.

This Part does not apply to a judgment given by a court of New Zealand.

For the enforcement in Australia of judgments given by courts of New Zealand, see Part 7 of the Trans‑Tasman Proceedings Act 2010.