Law No. 544-14 on Private International Law in the Dominican Republic
Read the PDF: Law No. 544-14 on Private International Law in the Dominican Republic
Law No. 544-14 on Private International Law in the Dominican Republic
I. PURPOSE AND SCOPE
The purpose of Law No. 544-14 is the regulation of International Private Relationships, which are those related to a foreign legal system, either in view of their objective elements, or the personal elements that conform the legal relation in question. In this sense, this law is focused on delineating three (3) key points concerning conflict of laws: (i) the jurisdiction of local courts; (ii) the applicable law regarding an international legal situation; and (iii) the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in our country. Administrative, arbitration and bankruptcy procedures have been excluded from the scope of this law.
This law came into effect on December nineteenth (19th) two thousand fourteen (2014), and is applicable to all processes initiated after the date of its entry into force without prejudice to any previously acquired rights.
II. MAIN CONCEPTS
The main concept introduced by Law 544-14 is “International Private Relations”, this concept being the basis of the field of application of this law. The law further defines the following concepts:
(I) International Dispute: Any dispute that has an element characteristic of an
International Private Relation.
(II) Dominican public order: Includes all regulations of our internal law which cannot be repealed by the parties.
(III) International Public Order: Group of principles in which the dominican legal system is inspired and reflect the values of society at
the moment of their appreciation.
(IV) Domicile: Refers to the place of habitual residence. In the case of a natural person the law does not admit more than one domicile.
(V) Habitual Residence: For a natural person, it’s the de facto place of main establishment, taking into consideration the personal and
professional circumstances that can provide an enduring bond with a specific place; and for a legal entity it’s the place in which it has
its headquarters, administration or main activity, for the purpose of its identification, as established in Law No. 479-08, General Law
of Societies.
III. JURISDICTION OF LOCAL COURTS
The law establishes the general competence of dominican courts, which are competent for the knowledge of any disputes happening at the time in the country, except in cases where there is a previously agreed upon forum of choice, regardless of the nationality of the parties, who will have access to justice on equal terms. It was by means of this law that the legal provisions that established the
foreigner or judicatum solvi bail, which was applicable to foreigners acting as plaintiffs, were formally and definitively repealed.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, within the specific powers granted under this law, we can list the following:
1) Exclusive Forums: Refers to matters that can only be known by local dominican courts; namely:
a) Those related to property rights and leases on property in dominican territory;
b) Constitution, validity, nullity, or dissolution of commercial companies domiciled in dominican territory; also regarding agreements
and decisions of their organs, when the aforementioned action affect their existence and operating norms;
c) Validity or nullity of registrations made in a dominican registry;
d) Registration or validity of a patent and other rights submitted for deposit or registration when they have been requested in the Dominican Republic;
e) Recognition and enforcement of judicial and arbitration decisions in dominican territory;
f) Conservatory measures enforceable in the Dominican Republic; and,
g) Determination of dominican nationality.
2. Concurrent Forums: Refers to matters that can be known by both foreign courts and local dominican courts in specific circumstances, as listed below:
a) Forums of Persons and Family Matters: Dominican courts are competent for the knowledge of the following actions (i) declaration of disappearance or death; (ii) incapacity and actions related to protection of the person or property of the disabled; (iii) related to personal and patrimonial relationships between spouses; (iv) issues relating to filiation; (v) for the constitution of adoption; (iv) alimony when one of the parties has residence in the Dominican Republic, as applicable in each case.
b) Forums of Property Rights: In this matter, the local courts will be competent for the knowledge of actions, related to: (i) contractual obligations and non-contractual obligations, when they should be executed in the Dominican Republic, or if the parties have residence in the Dominican Republic; (ii) exploitation of a branch office, agency or business establishment located in the country; (iii) consumer contracts, if the consumer lives in the Dominican Republic; (iv) insurance when the beneficiary is domiciled in the country, or the damage was produced in dominican territory; (v) moveable assets located in dominican territory, and (vi) when the causative of a succession has had his last domicile, or has movable assets in the Dominican Republic.
3. Forum Election Agreement: For any other matter not mentioned previously, local courts will be competent when: (i) the defendant is
domiciled in dominican territory or is reputed to be; or, (ii) when the involved parties have selected these courts, tacitly or explicitly, without any formality other than it being in written form.
Forum election agreements for contracts celebrated by consumers, in matters of insurance and actions related to moveable property located in dominican territory, will only be valid if: (i) the election of forum is made after the dispute has initiated; (ii) the parties were
domiciled in dominican territory when the relationship started; or (iii) the defendant is the consumer, employee, insured, policyholder,
injured or insurance beneficiary.
Other limitations related to competence
• In case of multiple defendants, local courts are competent if at least one of the defendants are domiciled in the Dominican Republic;
• In case of multiple pending cases on the same subject, as long as the cases are not related to matters where local jurisdiction is the exclusive forum, local courts will suspend the process until foreign courts pronounce themselves about their competence. Once this has taken place, this exception will be admitted, therefore local courts will remit the case whenever a foreign court declares itself competent based on a forum of competence considered as reasonable;
• In case of incompetence, it can be declared by order of the courts when the defendant does not present himself to the court in the cases governed by the law in question; and,
• The procedural law applicable to each case must be the one currently in force when the action was introduced; it cannot be modified until the trial has concluded.
New Procedural Figures
(i) Forum Necessitatis: This figure allows dominican courts to know any case, in spite of not being competent for their knowledge,
when elements of the case are associated to the Dominican Republic and if (a) no other foreign courts are competent to know the case;
and/or, (b) the Dominican Republic denies execution of the foreign judgment of the pertaining case.
(ii) Non Convenient Competence Forum (Forum Non Coveniens): It allows local courts to remit a case they are competent to
know if the need arose for the celebration of: (a) testimonial evidence from witnesses who reside abroad and their traveling to the country, or the celebration of this recollection of evidence in another country, would be very expensive for the parties; or (b) a judicial in spection abroad to improve the appreciation of the case.
IV. APPLICABLE LAW
In a general manner, the law formally establishes the principle of autonomy of will for the determination of applicable law except
in some specific cases where other interests are pursued, such as protecting the weakest party in a relationship of private international
law, or public order. The law specifically establishes the rights that, in principle, are applicable in different situations, as shown in the
following chart:
V. APPLICATION RULES
In the occasion of International Litigation– as this term is defined in the Law– the local courts and authorities will apply the rules of
the conflict and the judges must decide based on foreign laws when applicable.
In regards to the application of foreign law by dominican courts, they must consider the following principles:
• Concurrent laws will be applied harmoniously, equitably and based on their teleological interpretation.
• Forwarding is eliminated; the applicable foreign law is the governing law.
• Foreign law will not apply when it is incompatible with the International Public Order, weighed based on the legal status of the
Dominican Public Order and the gravity of the effects of its application. In these cases, another criterion of connection will be considered or dominican law will be applied.
• In case of multi-legislative systems, the conflict of the internal rules in question shall be taken into consideration to determine the application of a substantive rule or another.
• The rights acquired under foreign law right will be recognized in the country, provided they do not conflict with the principles of
Dominican Public Order.
VI. RECOGNITION AND EXECUTION OF FOREIGN DOCUMENTS
All foreign documents of public nature, containing judicial decisions or acts of any nature must fulfill with the following requirements to
be considered valid in the Dominican Republic: (i) they have been drafted or granted in accordance with the requirements of law where
they were issued to serve as complete proof; (ii) contains the form validity requirements to be considered authentic in the Dominican Republic; and (iii) they are accompanied by their corresponding translations, when they have been subscribed in another language.
VII. CONTENTIOUS JUDGMENTS
On the other hand, decisions resulting from contentious proceedings will be recognized in the Dominican Republic once exequatur has
been obtained for their enforcement, which can only be denied in the following cases:
1. If the recognition were expressly against public order;
2. When the decision in question had declared the defection of the defendant without effective evidence of him being cited personally or
in domicile;
3. If the decision is irreconcilable with a decision made previously in another country between the same parties in a dispute which
had the same object and cause, when that decision fulfills the necessary conditions for its recognition in the Dominican Republic;
4. If the exclusive competence of local courts established by law where unacknowledged; and,
5. If the decision does not fulfill the requirements established by the country in which it has been issued to be considered authentic,
as well as those required by dominican law for their validity.
The procedure of the obtainment of exequatur must be known by the Civil and Commercial Chamber of the First Instance Court of
the National District in non-contentious jurisdiction and it is subject to appeal under common law.
Other Foreign Decisions
Decisions related to capacity, family relationships, and personal rights: These decisions will be recognized when they have
been pronounced by the authority of a State, whose law is applicable in accordance with the provisions of this Law, or when the decision produces consequences in the legal system of that State.
Foreign judgments of voluntary jurisdiction: These decisions will be recognized without requiring any special procedure when they
have been pronounced by the authority of a State whose law is applicable in accordance to the provisions of this Law, or when the
decision produces consequences in the legal system of that State.
Adoptions pronounced abroad: These decisions will be recognized when they are issued
by the State of domicile or nationality of the adopter or adoptee. Adoptions or similar institutions of foreign law whose effects of filiation are different than those recognized by dominican law will not be recognized.
Recognition of parent-child relationships: These decisions will be recognized when they have been pronounced by the State of the child’s domicile or in the State of domicile of the parent who is the defendant.
Recognition of succession: These decisions or documents related to a succession and the rights derived of an open succession abroad,
will be recognized when: (i) they have been pronounced or issued in the place of the last domicile of the deceased or the law of the
place where the succession was submitted; (ii) they refer to real-estate property and have been pronounced or issued in the place
where these assets are located.
In all the above cases public order and the respect for the right of defense should be considered.