New EU Regulation establishing procedure for blocking debtor’s bank account

Below is a short description of the main provisions.

Creditor’s rights and obligations:
·       based on the Regulation, in case if a creditor does not have sufficient information regarding a debtor’s bank accounts in other Member States, the creditor could submit application to the Court in order to obtain such information. The Court should provide data to the creditor, however, the creditor shall support the Court with evidence or substantive grounds, which could prove, that the debtor holds bank accounts in that particular Member State;
·       the creditor also must submit substantive evidences to ensure the Court, that there is an urgent necessity for the obtaining information about debtor’s accounts and the blocking of the debtor’s account. Because without such measures, the enforcement of the creditor’s claim will be impeded or difficult to achieve. The Court shall take decision evaluating all evidences provided by the creditor, whether evidences are sufficient and substantive;
·       the Court issues Account Preservation Order in 5 -10 working days from the day of the submission of the application. However, the debtor will be informed about the arrest of a bank account and Account Preservation Order issued after the bank account is arrested;
·       till 18 January 2017 bailiffs did not have rights to arrest accounts in another Member States and the debtor should have been informed in advance regarding arrest of bank accounts. According to the new Regulation, Lithuanian bailiffs have rights to put foreign accounts  under arrest. It is important to mention, that debtor will not be informed about the arrest of bank accounts in another Member States in advance;
·       before issuing Account Preservation Order, the Court could require the creditor to provide security for an amount sufficient to prevent abuse of the procedure and to ensure compensation for any damage suffered by the debtor, as a result of the Account Preservation Order to the extent, that the creditor is liable for such damage. The burden of proof should lie with the debtor.

Debtor’s rights and obligations:
·       the debtor has the right to effective remedies, when bank accounts are under arrest. The debtor could apply to the Court for a modification or a revocation of the Preservation Order on the ground, that circumstances on the basis of which the Order was issued have changed;
·       the debtor could apply to the Court of Member State, where bank accounts are put under arrest, for termination or limitation of the enforcement of the Preservation Order.

The Regulation can be found:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32014R0655&from=LT

24.02.17