Article 295 of the Civil Transactions Law provides that the limitation period for claims is ten years, except where another statutory provision or an exception in the Law applies. Once that period is exceeded, the right lapses through the passage of time, and the courts will not accept the claim. Under Article 296, however, certain claims will not be heard after five years if the person against whom they are brought denies them. These include claims by professionals, such as doctors, lawyers and engineers, for work connected with their professions and expenses they have incurred, as well as periodically recurring rights such as property rent, wages and accrued income. A trader's claim for goods or services supplied to a person who does not trade in them will not be heard after one year if that person denies it.
The period after which a claim will not be heard due to the passage of time begins on the day the right becomes due for performance.
The running of the period during which a claim may be heard is suspended whenever an excuse prevents the right from being claimed. Such excuses include good-faith negotiations between the parties that are still ongoing when the period expires, or a moral impediment that prevents a claim from being made.
