Debtors' e-registry getting closer

PMR team

September 22, 2017

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If everything goes according to the government's plan, the law on the National Register of Debtors will come into effect from 1 February 2019. It will contain information on companies that are undergoing bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings, as well as data on consumer bankruptcies and people who are in arrears with maintenance.

If everything goes according to the government's plan, the National Debt Register Act will come into force on February 1, 2019. It will contain information on companies that are undergoing bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings, as well as data on consumer bankruptcies and people in arrears with alimony. Experts warn that including companies in the debt register in restructuring may cause problems with them obtaining loans.

On September 7 this year, the Ministry of Justice submitted a draft law to the Council of Ministers on National Register of Indebted Persons. Contrary to the original plans, the register is to be much broader than originally planned. It will include companies and individuals subject to restructuring or bankruptcy proceedings, as well as debtors who are in arrears with alimony for a period longer than 6 months.

No more paperwork

The register is to be public and accessible on the Internet for everyone. We will find out from it when the company filed an application to initiate restructuring proceedings, which court is handling the case, we will learn the case reference number, the name of the restructuring administrator, the list of receivables, the composition of the bankruptcy estate, and the creditor repayment plan.

An important change introduced by the proposed act is the necessity to file pleadings and documents only by means of an electronic register. The same will happen with court decisions - they will be published only in the ICT system. The courts will also abandon postal deliveries and they will be sent electronically, which will reduce the number of paper correspondence and also shorten the time between issuing a ruling and sending it.

Faster courts, lower costs

This is to significantly improve the work of district courts and their commercial divisions dealing with restructuring and bankruptcy proceedings, as well as to speed up the processes repair companies. The significant reduction in the costs of these proceedings is also significant. Both courts and entrepreneurs will no longer have to publish announcements and notices in the Court and Economic Monitor, which will allow for significant savings in restructuring and bankruptcy proceedings.

Writings Process and documents will be entered into the electronic system using available ready-made electronic forms and will have to be certified with a qualified electronic signature. The register will not include cases that were initiated before the Act came into force, which is planned for 1 February 2019. Their documentation will remain in paper form.

Risk of stigmatization companies in restructuring?

However, restructuring advisors warn against putting all assets into one register. companies in repair and dishonest debtors.

– In one register, without any particularly clear distinction, there will be both those who have not paid their debts for years and are running away from the bailiff, as well as, for example, consumers who, through no fault of their own, have become overly indebted and have gone to court with a motion to declare their bankruptcy. What is even more dangerous, the same register will include companies in during restructuring, which, for example, are only threatened with insolvency or have already entered into an arrangement with creditors and are repaying their debts. This will stigmatize entrepreneurs again and make it difficult for them to obtain, for example, trade credits or bank financing for the development of their companies - says Małgorzata Anisimowicz, restructuring advisor at the PMR law firm Restructuring of SA. - After completing the arrangement with creditors these companies will still appear in the register of debtors for several years, even though they will no longer be in debt - he adds.

According to Małgorzata Anisimowicz, it would be worth changing the name of the register, and if not – then at least clearly separating a separate "green" subdirectory of restructuring proceedings in the general register, so that those using the register could intuitively and mentally distinguish companies in the process restructuring from yellow bankruptcy alerts consumers or businesses, and even more so from red alerts – concerning dishonest debtors who avoid settling their obligations and who have not paid their receivables for years.

- Putting everyone back in one bag under the name of "register of debtors" will not fully correspond to the actual state of affairs and will again contradict the spirit of the restructuring act, which came into force on January 1, 2016 and created a new opening for the recovery companies and bankruptcy prevention enterprises – says Małgorzata Anisimowicz.