EUROPA - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - European Account Preservation Order: Ministers endorse Commission proposal to help business recover cross-border debts

EUROPA - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - European Account Preservation Order: Ministers endorse Commission proposal to help business recover cross-border debts

New EU rules which will make it easier for companies to recover claims across borders have taken a big step towards adoption. Member States in the Justice Council today endorsed the compromise agreement on those rules reached with the European Parliament just a few weeks ago (see MEMO/14/101), paving the way for a final adoption at first reading. The proposal will help businesses recover millions in cross-border debts, by allowing creditors to preserve the amount owed in a debtor's bank account. This follows the European Parliament's Legal Affairs (JURI) committee vote to give its support to the compromise text agreed in trialogues with the European Commission and the Council of Ministers, on the proposal for a Regulation establishing a European Account Preservation Order (IP/11/923). (...)


While the EU’s internal market allows businesses to enter in cross-border trade and boost their earnings, today around 1 million small businesses face problems with cross-border debts. Up to €600 million a year in debt is unnecessarily written off because businesses find it too daunting to pursue expensive, confusing lawsuits in foreign countries. The European Account Preservation Order can be of crucial importance in debt recovery proceedings because it would prevent debtors from moving their assets to another country while procedures to obtain and enforce a judgment on the merits are ongoing. It would thus improve the prospects of successfully recovering cross-border debt. (...)