Amendment of the Bankruptcy Law

The Act of 26 January 2018 amending the Act on the National Court Register and certain other acts, which has been in force since 15 March 2018, introduced changes to the Bankruptcy Law.

Obligation to identify the shareholders responsible for the company’s obligations with all its assets

According to the introduced changes, the Insolvency Court, deciding on the declaration of the debtor’s bankruptcy or on the dismissal of the application pursuant to Article 13 of the Bankruptcy Law, will be obliged to indicate in the section of the decision the first and last names of shareholders responsible for the company’s liabilities with all the assets, or their names or business names, PESEL numbers. In the case of foreigners being the above-mentioned partners – series and numbers of passports and the names of issuing countries or REGON identification numbers and numbers in the National Court Register or in another register or register.

The above amendment is aimed at facilitating creditors’ search for entities from which they will be able to demand repayment of their claims. Of course, if they are not satisfied with the assets of the company concerned.

New rules for the appointment of the Superintendent

At the same time, changes were made to the appointment of the Superintendent. The current regulation on curators in Article 26 of the Act on the National Court Register has been repealed and the current wording of Article 42 of the Civil Code has been changed. The aim of the above was to unify the regulations regarding the performance of the function of a curator. Until now, the regulations concerning the performance of the function of curator have been included in three different acts, generating doubts in terms of competence. Therefore, after the change, if there is a circumstance requiring the appointment of a curator in bankruptcy proceedings, the Court should first appoint a curator to perform this function pursuant to Article 42 of the Civil Code.

Superintendent’s salary

In addition, the provisions on the basis of which curators are to be remunerated have been clarified. Until now, the superintendent appointed pursuant to Article 261, section 1, of the Bankruptcy Law received remuneration pursuant to a regulation laid down in the Act on Court Fees in Civil Matters. In turn, the curator appointed after the declaration of bankruptcy pursuant to Article 187(1) of the Bankruptcy Law was remunerated under the Act on the National Court Register. The amendment harmonises the legal basis for remuneration granted to curators regardless of the stage of bankruptcy proceedings.

Change in the service of decisions in the national court register

The amendment also includes changes in the scope of transmission by the Insolvency Courts of copies of final decisions concerning the ruling on the ban on conducting business activity to the National Court Register (repeal of Article 376(4) of the Bankruptcy Law). After the amendment, the Registry Court will receive information about the ban on conducting business activity through the use of ICT systems. The above will affect the time of entry of the above information, and thus the possibility of obtaining information about the future contractor.