Facts
On 21 March 2017, the Ministry of Justice of Latvia submitted a request for international judicial assistance in civil matters, seeking the provision by Bank B. of information relating to the accounts opened in its books in the name of spouses A. and C. This request was part of divorce proceedings instituted before the Riga District Court by the wife, who was asserting maintenance claims and claims for the division of the matrimonial property against her husband.
On 29 September 2017, the Court of First Instance of Geneva ordered the execution of the request for judicial assistance and instructed Bank B. to provide the requested information. The husband appealed against this order, complaining of a violation of his right to be heard and invoking the withdrawal by his wife of her divorce petition.
The Civil Chamber of the Court of Justice of the Canton of Geneva dismissed the appeal. The Federal Tribunal ultimately upheld the husband's appeal and remanded the case to the cantonal authority for a new decision.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal considered that the party to the substantive proceedings before the foreign judge, who was able to assert his rights in those proceedings, does not have a right to intervene at the stage of the execution of the letter of request in Switzerland. This makes it possible to guarantee the effectiveness of the judicial assistance procedure, while respecting the right to be heard of the interested persons, who can assert their arguments in the context of an appeal against the decision of execution.
The Federal Tribunal also ruled that the cantonal authority had to take into account the…