Enforcement of a Belarusian Court Judgment in Moldova: Procedure

Author: Sergei Anatolyevich Brazaitis, lawyer at the law firm "Economic Disputes," specializing in construction, real estate, foreign courts, foreign companies, foreign trade, taxes, customs, and foreign practice (Lithuania, Poland, Georgia, Serbia, China)

13.06.2026

Recognition and enforcement of a foreign court judgment is an official procedure through which a judicial act issued in one state acquires binding legal force on the territory of another and can be implemented through its national compulsory enforcement mechanism. For a Belarusian company that has won an economic dispute in court but is facing a Moldovan debtor, this procedure is the only lawful way to actually obtain the amounts awarded. Unlike many states, Belarus has both multilateral and bilateral legal assistance treaties with Moldova, which creates a predictable legal basis for applying to a Moldovan court.

Which international treaties allow enforcement of a Belarusian judgment in Moldova?

The legal foundation for the recognition of judicial acts between the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Moldova is the Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family, and Criminal Matters, signed in Minsk in 1993 (the Minsk Convention). Both states are parties to it. It is this convention that establishes the obligation of the contracting parties to recognize and enforce judgments in civil and economic cases that have entered into legal force.

Under Article 51 of the Minsk Convention, each contracting party recognizes and enforces judgments issued on the territory of the other contracting parties by justice bodies in civil cases, including settlement agreements approved by a court.

In addition to the Minsk Convention, the bilateral Treaty on Legal Assistance in Civil, Family, and Criminal Matters between the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Moldova, signed in Chişinău in 1993, applies. Its provisions clarify the conventional rules specifically with regard to relations between these two states. For more on how to properly build contractual protection already at the stage of concluding a contract with a Moldovan partner, see the e-sud.by blog.

How does the exequatur procedure work in Moldova?

The procedural rules for recognizing foreign judgments in Moldova are set out in the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Moldova (Articles 467–474 of the CPC RM). The competent court for reviewing an application for recognition and enforcement is the Chişinău Court of Appeal. The court does not review the Belarusian judgment on its merits — it only checks for the presence or absence of grounds for refusal provided for by the international treaty and national legislation.

The set of documents the creditor must attach to the application is set out in Article 53 of the Minsk Convention.

Since Belarus and Moldova are parties to the Minsk Convention, documents issued by the courts and official bodies of the member states are accepted without consular legalization or an apostille. Advice on preparing documents for a Moldovan court can be obtained in the services section of e-sud.by.

When may a Moldovan court refuse recognition?

The Minsk Convention contains a closed list of grounds for refusal (Article 55), supplemented by Article 471 of the CPC of the Republic of Moldova. A Moldovan court will refuse to recognize a Belarusian judgment in the following cases: under Moldovan law, the case falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of Moldovan courts; the defendant did not participate in the proceedings due to improper notice of the time and place of the hearing; there is an effective Moldovan court judgment on the same dispute between the same parties; a Moldovan court has already accepted a case on the same subject matter for proceedings; the deadline for presenting the judgment for compulsory enforcement has expired; or recognition would contravene the public policy of the Republic of Moldova.

In practice, the most common ground for refusal is improper notice to the defendant in the Belarusian proceedings. This means that already at the stage of the case being heard in a Belarusian economic court, the creditor needs to carefully document proper notice to the Moldovan party. For more on the rules for notifying foreign participants in proceedings before a Belarusian court, see the materials on e-sud.by.

How should recovery strategy against a Moldovan debtor be structured?

If a Belarusian creditor is still only planning litigation, a strategically sound decision would be to include an arbitration clause in the contract naming a neutral arbitration institution. International commercial arbitration awards are enforced in Moldova on the basis of the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, of which Moldova is a party.

If a judgment of a Belarusian economic court has already been issued, one should act without delay: delaying the initiation of the recognition procedure in Moldova increases the risk that the debtor will strip assets. For more on properly preparing a writ of execution and initiating recovery, see the services section of e-sud.by.

About "Economic Disputes"

Recognizing a Belarusian judicial decision in Moldova is a procedure in which a mistake at the document-preparation stage results in the court's refusal and lost time while the debtor moves assets. That is precisely why the outcome is largely determined by how correctly the work is structured already during the Belarusian proceedings.

"Economic Disputes" has worked with B2B clients since 2019. The team includes 15 lawyers and specialists with 15 to 25 years of experience, 4 certified mediators, and its own arbitration tribunal. Director Sergei Belyavsky spent 10 years as a judge of an economic court, is a recommended arbitrator of the International Arbitration Court at the BelCCI, and is the author of 5 monographs and more than 2,000 publications on economic law. Over the years, the company has supported more than 2,000 clients and helped recover or preserve 1.95 billion Belarusian rubles.

If your business needs legal support for recognizing and enforcing judgments of Belarusian economic courts in Moldova, leave a request — we will offer a realistic action plan.