Enforcement

Section 5 of the rules Protection of Trading Interests Act (PTIA) 1980 prohibits the enforcement (under English common law and the 1920 and 1933 enforcement acts) of a foreign judgment "for multiple damages", which is defined as "a judgment for an amount arrived at by doubling, trebling or otherwise multiplying a sum assessed as compensation for the loss or damage". This provision was introduced to counteract US anti-trust judgments (which the English courts disapproved of because they imposed heavy penalties for acts done in England – and intended to be governed by English law – where no claim could have been brought in England). However, the judge in the recent case of Hangzhou Jiudang Asset Management Co Ltd & Anor v Kei accepted that it can apply to all cases in which compensatory amounts are multiplied by a foreign court.

However, it only applies where it is the award of damages that is multiplied. It does not apply where, as was the case in Kei, the amount of interest payable was doubled where a judgment was not paid within a certain period (here, both contractual interest and a default rate of interest ran concurrently after that period): "The fact that the amount of the interest payment is calculated as a percentage of the principal amount awarded does not, in my judgment, make it a multiplier of the compensation within the meaning of Section 5 of the PTIA".

Furthermore, as the judge pointed out, that level of interest would not have been payable anyway had the defendant paid on time.