Commonwealth Numbered Acts

FOREIGN JUDGMENTS ACT 1991 No. 112 of 1991 - SECT 6

6. (1) A judgment creditor under a judgment to which this Part applies may
apply to the appropriate court at any time within 6 years after:

   (a)  the date of the judgment; or

   (b)  where there have been proceedings by way of appeal against the
        judgment, the date of the last judgment in those proceedings; to have
        the judgment registered in the court.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the appropriate court is:

   (a)  if the judgment is a money judgment and was given in proceedings in
        which a matter for determination arises under the Commerce Act 1986 of
        New Zealand (other than proceedings in which a matter for
        determination arises under section 36A, 98H or 99A of that Act) - the
        Federal Court of Australia or the Supreme Court of a State or
        Territory; or

   (b)  if the judgment is not a money judgment and was given in such
        proceedings - the Federal Court of Australia; or

   (c)  in any other case - the Supreme Court of a State or Territory.

(3) Subject to this Act and to proof of the matters prescribed by the
applicable Rules of Court, if an application is made under this section, the
Supreme Court of a State or Territory or the Federal Court of Australia is to
order the judgment to be registered.

(4) The court's order must state the period within which an application may be
made under section 7 to have the registration of the judgment set aside.

(5) The court may, by order, extend the period within which such an
application may be made.

(6) A judgment is not to be registered if at the date of the application:

   (a)  it has been wholly satisfied; or

   (b)  it could not be enforced in the country of the original court.

(7) Subject to sections 7 and 14:

   (a)  a registered judgment has, for the purposes of enforcement, the same
        force and effect; and

   (b)  proceedings may be taken on a registered judgment; and

   (c)  the amount for which a judgment is registered carries interest; and

   (d)  the registering court has the same control over the enforcement of a
        registered judgment; as if the judgment had been originally given in
        the court in which it is registered and entered on the date of
        registration.

(8) A judgment registered under this section in the Supreme Court of a State
or Territory is registrable in the Supreme Court of any other State or
Territory under Part IV of the Service and Execution of Process Act 1901 as if
the judgment had been originally given in the first-mentioned Supreme Court
and entered on the day of registration.

(9) Subsection (8) does not apply if an order has been made under section 8
that enforcement of the judgment be stayed.

(10) Action is not to be taken to enforce a registered judgment:

   (a)  during the period fixed under subsection (4) (including any extensions
        of that period under subsection (5)) as the period during which a
        party may apply to have the registration of the judgment set aside; or

   (b)  where such an application has been made, until after the application
        has been finally determined.

(11) Where the amount payable under a judgment that is to be registered is
expressed in a currency other than Australian currency, the judgment is to be
registered:

   (a)  if the judgment creditor has stated in the application that the
        judgment creditor wishes the judgment to be registered in the currency
        in which it is expressed - in that currency; or

   (b)  in any other case - as if it were for an equivalent amount in
        Australian currency, based on the rate of exchange prevailing on the
        day of the application for registration.

(12) If, on the day of the application for registration of a judgment, the
judgment of the original court has been partly satisfied, the judgment is not
to be registered in respect of the whole amount payable under the judgment of
the original court, but only in respect of the balance remaining payable on
that day.

(13) If, on an application to a court for the registration of a judgment, it
appears to the court that the judgment is in respect of different matters and
that some, but not all, of the provisions of the judgment are such that, if
those provisions had been contained in separate judgments, those judgments
could properly have been registered, the judgment may be registered in respect
of those provisions, but not in respect of any other provisions contained in
it.

(14) Without affecting the operation of subsection (13), where, on an
application to a court for the registration of a judgment, it appears to the
court that:

   (a)  the judgment is in respect of an amount of money payable in respect of
        both recoverable Papua New Guinea income tax and non-recoverable tax;
        and

   (b)  the judgment could have been registered if it had been in respect of
        recoverable Papua New Guinea income tax only; the judgment may be
        registered in respect of the amount less so much as relates to
        non-recoverable tax.

(15) A judgment registered under this section is to be registered for:

   (a)  the reasonable costs of and incidental to registration, including the
        cost of obtaining a certified copy of the judgment from the
        original court; and

   (b)  where an amount of money is payable under the judgment - any interest
        which, by the law of the country of the original court, becomes due
        under the judgment up to the time of registration.