Changes to insolvency laws have been signed by the President and will come into force 30 days after publication.
The changes aim to adapt the law to the needs of the current business situation and include:
- removing the definition of 'entrepreneur' from the Law on Bankruptcy and Rehabilitation and referring to the definition in the Polish Civil Code
- clarifying that the basis for declaring a debtor to be insolvent is the non-performance of pecuniary (not any) obligations
- enabling debtors under threat of insolvency to use rehabilitation proceedings when the delay in performing their obligations does not exceed three months and their debts do not exceed 10% of the value of their business's balance sheet
- requiring the court to secure the debtor's assets when he files a petition for bankruptcy
- requiring debtors carrying on business after being declared bankrupt to add the phrase under its name "in bankruptcy by liquidation" or "in bankruptcy by arrangement"
- enabling assets, claims and other property rights transferred by the debtor to secure the creditor's claims to be excluded from the bankruptcy estate (the creditor's claims are satisfied in the same way as a pledgee – from the disposal proceeds of the asset, claim and other property right)
- enabling the provisions in an agreement to which the debtor is a party to be declared ineffective as regards the bankruptcy estate if it makes it impossible or more difficult to achieve the aim of the bankruptcy proceedings (eg a clause excluding the transferability of the assets or rights)
- limiting the jurisdiction of the Polish courts to the debtor's assets in Poland, where the debtor's centre of main interests is outside Poland (this brings the law into line with European Regulations)
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The original publication date for this article was 26/03/2086.