What data is included in the National Debtors Register
The National Debtors Register (KRZ) has largely replaced the Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy (MSiG). It is where previously announcements in bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings were made. What data should be included in the KRZ?
The purpose of enacting the Act on the KRZ was to increase transparency of bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings. There’s also another reason. The legislator also wanted to ensure the security of economic transactions. The act has not changed the scope of disclosure with respect to entities that are insolvent or at risk of insolvency. It only provided for a new way of making data available to interested parties.
TRANSPARENCY OF THE REGISTER
Due to the clearly defined purpose, the legislator decided to make the data processed in the course of insolvency proceedings available only in the NCR. The place where this data is collected is the Register containing a systematised collection of information about insolvent entities or entities at risk of insolvency and a collection of announcements (hereinafter: the Register).
It needs to be remembered that the regulations make a distinction between the Register understood as a place where data about entities indicated in the act and a set of notices based on which data is disclosed in the Register, and the IT system. The latter supports adjudication of bankruptcy and restructuring courts.
The legislator has provided for the possibility to access the information contained in the Register without the necessity to invoke the legal interest (article 4 of the a.m.u.n.). A common feature of the entities whose data is included in the Register are those that concern their property status. This is insolvency, threat of insolvency or other solvency problems.
The KRZ is an entity register. Its main function is to disclose insolvent entities. However, it does not disclose the debt structure of individual entities. Regulations contained in the Act on the National Debtors Register specify detailed information that is subject to disclosure in the register (article 5-8 u.KRZ). Among them one can distinguish legally significant events, such as bankruptcy or ineffectiveness of enforcement.
Data disclosed in the Register do not benefit from a legal presumption of data veracity. The KRZ Register has an informative function. Disclosure of data does not have the character of an entry in the register (as opposed to systems serving registration proceedings in the KRZ or land and mortgage register proceedings). It is a technical operation, the performance of which is ensured by creating the functionality of an ICT system.
PUBLICATION OF DATA IN THE REGISTER
Disclosure in cases provided for in the Bankruptcy Law and the Restructuring Law shall be made in the Register (Article 27.4 p.u., Article 199.1 p.r.). The mode of disclosure of data in the Register is based on the automated operation of the ICT system supporting the court proceedings (art. 9 sec. 1 p.u.). This occurs e.g. after a court order is issued or an action to be disclosed is performed. Disclosure of data does not involve any additional actions on the part of the court.
The entry into force of the Act on the National Debtors Register in comparison to the previously binding regulations only changed the place of publication from the MSiG to the Register. Pursuant to Article 455.1 p.r. until the day of establishing the Register there was a transitional regulation in force – the announcements had to be made in MSiG. When the Act on the KRZ enters into force, it will be in the interest of all creditors to follow the announcements made in the KRZ on a regular basis.
ERASURE OF DATA FROM THE REGISTER
Pursuant to Article 11 of the KRZ Act, data contained in this register may not be deleted from it, unless otherwise provided by law. In principle, such regulation is to ensure loyalty in relations between contractors.
According to the general rule, the discontinuation of data disclosure in the KRZ takes place automatically after 10 years from the date of final termination or discontinuance of the proceedings to which they relate. In the situation where in bankruptcy proceedings a creditors’ repayment plan has been validly determined (art. 370a p.u., art. 49116.1a p.u.), data disclosed in the Register shall be deleted after 3 years. This period shall be counted from the date when the decision on confirmation of execution of creditors’ repayment plan and discontinuance of liabilities of the bankrupt or discontinuance of liabilities without establishing a creditors’ repayment plan becomes final. The data may also be erased after 10 years from the date on which the decision on repealing the creditors’ repayment plan becomes final.
If in the proceedings the bankrupt was conditionally discontinued without establishing a plan of creditors’ repayment, the data disclosed in the KRZ shall cease to be available after the lapse of 3 years from the date the decision on conditional discontinuance of the bankrupt’s obligations without establishing a plan of creditors’ repayment became legally valid. It may also be 10 years from the date when the decision on revoking the decision on conditional discontinuance of bankrupt’s liabilities without establishing a plan for repayment of creditors becomes final (article 11 section 4a of the KRZ Act).
SEARCHING FOR DATA IN THE REGISTER
The criteria that allow efficient search of data on entities disclosed in the Register are:
- with respect to natural persons who do not conduct business activity – PESEL number or NIP number or case file reference number,
- with respect to natural persons who conduct business activity – name and surname, company, PESEL number, NIP number or case file reference number,
- with regard to entities not being natural persons – name or business name, number in the KRZ, NIP, or case file reference number.
SUMMARY
KRZ Register has largely replaced MSiG, which until now has been publishing announcements in bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings. It can be expected that further work on the Register will contribute to faster implementation of the interests of participants in insolvency proceedings. It will also result in easier access to data on entities in payment crisis.
This text is an extract from the practical commentary prepared by the author for Wolters Kluwer publishing house. The full version of the commentary is available for LEX system users at
