World-wide freezing orders overseas - the Dadourian guidelines

In a case that will be of interest to international banks who are served with a worldwide freezing order (WFO) in a non-UK office or to any bank seeking a WFO on their own account, the court has set out guidelines on how it would exercise its discretion to grant permission to a claimant seeking to enforce a WFO abroad. By setting out the criteria, claimants can be better prepared in making an application to enforce a WFO abroad.

Since 1990 it has been standard practice for the court to require an undertaking from the claimant not to try to enforce a WFO abroad without the court’s permission. Until now, there have been no guidelines showing what would persuade the court to grant permission.

The eight guidelines are listed in the judgment of the Court of Appeal and some points to note are: