Freezing of Bank Accounts and Registration of a Charge on Immovable Property for Social Insurance Debts – A new bill forwarded to the House of Representatives

A new bill proposing the introduction of recovery measures in respect of Social Insurance obligations that has been engineered by the Ministry of Labour, has attracted particular interest as to the financial and operational repercussions that may by sustained by affected businesses.

Amongst others, the said proposed legislation provides for the possibility of freezing debtor's bank deposits, in case of delay in payment of contributions due and the imposition of an additional fee, which exceed €3.000, with the exception of amounts for which all administrative and judicial procedures have not been exhausted.

The amount of bank deposits that may be frozen will not exceed the amount due, while account freezings will not be made on debtor's bank accounts where the available amount will be less than € 2,000.

In relation to outstanding contribution obligations debts and additional fee up to €5.000, except for amounts for which all administrative and judicial procedures have not been exhausted, the proposed legislation affords the right to the Social Insurance Services to register a charge (MEMO) on such the immovable property of the debtor, worth twice the value of the due amount of contributions and additional fee, as a guarantee for purposes of repayment.

This proposed legislation has been approved by the Council of Ministers and has already been forwarded to the House of Representatives.

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