Reciprocity as a condition for the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in the private international law of Serbia

In many national systems of private international law, reciprocity is still a condition for the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in civil and commercial matters. However, in the modern globalized economic and social context, where legal and natural persons enter into cross-border private law relationships and international transactions on a daily basis, the question is whether this condition is justified and necessary. Although many states have taken a more flexible approach to this issue in the last few decades, this condition still exists in the legislation of a certain number of states and is considered to be a major obstacle to the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. In the legislation of the Republic of Serbia, reciprocity is also one of the conditions for the recognition of foreign judgments. In order to be able to respond to the ever-increasing economic interest expressed through crossborder trade and investments, it would be desirable to consider amending our applicable legislation, as well as the Republic of Serbia’s acceding to the 2019 Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments. Namely, it has entered into force recently and is aimed at giving a truly global significance to the unification of conditions for the recognition and enforcement of judgments. At the same time, this would also eliminate the problem of reciprocity in relations between the Republic of Serbia and states party to the Convention, both in terms of difficulties related to the procedure for its establishment and the recognition of judgments of the courts of the Republic of Serbia in the states requiring diplomatic reciprocity in this respect.