A proposed amendment to the Insolvency Act, has been approved by the government and is currently under discussion in the Czech Parliament. It is expected to significantly alleviate the situation for debtors seeking debt relief. The previous government had intended to introduce similar changes; however, the legislative process was halted by the end of its term.
Current position
Currently, debtors can achieve debt relief only after 5 years of "good conduct", unless they:
- are old-age pensioners or other “vulnerable” persons
- manage to repay 60% of the claims of their unsecured creditors
in which case debt relief can be granted after 3 years.
Proposals
The proposed bill would shorten the period necessary to achieve debt relief to 3 years for all debtors who can request it, ie, all natural persons and legal entities who are not entrepreneurs.
Another notable change concerns defining a debtor’s good conduct. Currently, debtors that have repaid 30% of their unsecured creditor claims are presumed to have fulfilled this requirement. The amendment stipulates that the court will determine the conditions for good conduct in decisions approving debt relief plans on an individual basis, rather than as uniformly prescribed by law.
Next steps
If both chambers of the Parliament approve the amendment as planned, the shortened debt relief period will be effective from 1 January 2024.
Find out more
To discuss the issues raised in this article in more detail, please contact a member of our Restructuring & insolvency team.
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