Activities of Jana ŽITŇANSKÁ related to 2016/0359(COD)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on preventive restructuring frameworks, second chance and measures to increase the efficiency of restructuring, insolvency and discharge procedures and amending Directive 2012/30/EU
Amendments (15)
Amendment 37 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 3 a (new)
Recital 3 a (new)
(3a) The Member States should examine the possibility of devising mechanisms to prevent excessive or abusive recourse to experts at the expense of an undertaking on the part of employees, since such recourse would ultimately have a negative impact on the financial situation of the undertaking.
Amendment 73 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 13 a (new)
Recital 13 a (new)
(13a) In order to secure a more coherent approach, the Commission is asked to consider setting up a single European journal recording insolvencies, which would provide greater transparency for all creditors and simplify access to information, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises and for employees.
Amendment 110 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) Consumer over-indebtedness is a matter of great economic and social concern and is closely related to the reduction of debt overhang. Furthermore, it is often not possible to draw a clear distinction between the consumer and business debts of an entrepreneur. A second chance regime for entrepreneurs would not be effective if the entrepreneur had to go through separate procedures, with different access conditions and discharge periods, to discharge his business personal debts and his non-business personal debts. For these reasons, although this Directive does not include binding rules on consumer over-indebtedness, Member States should be able to also apply the discharge provisions to consumersMember States should be able to also apply the discharge provisions to consumers and establish single procedures for both professional and personal debts of the same person.
Amendment 111 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 15 a (new)
Recital 15 a (new)
(15a) In order to achieve greater clarity, the Member States and the Commission should conduct a study for the identification of key indicators of personal over indebtedness. In light of the results of this study, the Member States and the Commission should adopt measures establishing a system of early warning tools for the over indebtedness of natural persons.
Amendment 115 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 16
Recital 16
(16) The earlier the debtor can detect its financial difficulties and can take appropriate action, the higher the probability of avoiding an impending insolvency or, in case of a business whose viability is permanently impaired, the more orderly and efficient the winding-up process. Clear information on the available preventive restructuring procedures as well as early warning tools should therefore be put in place to incentivise debtors who start to experience financial problems to take early action. PossibleTherefore a system of early warning mechanisms should include accounting and monitoring duties for the debtor or the debbe established with indicator's management as well as reporting duties under loan agreements. In addition, third parties with relevant information such as accountants, tax and social security authorities could be incentivised or obliged under national law to flag a negative developmentsuch as repeated delays with ordinary payments, and should be followed and monitored by, for example, tax and social security authorities, banks or energy providers.
Amendment 117 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 16 a (new)
Recital 16 a (new)
(16a) Member States should support the establishment of financial counselling services that, based on the principle of non-profit and financial product neutrality and in cooperation with banks and other relevant stakeholders, would provide financial advice to debtors or indebted entrepreneurs and help them overcome financial problems at a very early stage.
Amendment 127 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 39
Recital 39
(39) It is necessary to maintain and enhance the transparency and predictability of the procedures in delivering outcomes that are favourable for the preservation of businesses and for giving entrepreneurs a second chance or that permit the efficient liquidation of non-viable enterprises. To this end, the Commission is urged to consider creating a single European point of contact for the sale of assets of non- viable enterprises. This would avoid fragmentation of sales and enhance the value of company assets, as well as increasing the recovery rate for creditors, including employees. It is also necessary to reduce the excessive length of insolvency procedures in many Member States, which results in legal uncertainty for creditors and investors and low recovery rates. Finally, given the enhanced cooperation mechanisms between courts and practitioners in cross- border cases set up by Regulation (EU) 2015/848, the professionalism of all actors involved needs to be brought to comparable high levels across the Union. To achieve these objectives, Member States should ensure that members of the judicial and administrative bodies are properly trained and have specialised knowledge and experience in insolvency matters. Such specialisation of members of the judiciary should allow making decisions with potentially significant economic and social impacts within a short period of time and should not mean that members of the judiciary have to deal exclusively with restructuring, insolvency and second chance matters. For example, the creation of specialised courts or chambers in accordance with national law governing the organisation of the judicial system could be an efficient way of achieving these objectives.
Amendment 130 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 42
Recital 42
(42) It is important to gather reliable data on the performance of restructuring, insolvency and discharge procedures in order to monitor the implementation and application of this Directive. Therefore Member States should collect and aggregate data that is sufficiently granular to enable an accurate assessment of how the Directive works in practice. Particular emphasis should be put on the collection of data, in which there are currently significant differences, such as data on the length of insolvency procedures and data on creditors’ recovery rates, whether such data is secured or not.
Amendment 153 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 2 – point g
Article 1 – paragraph 2 – point g
Amendment 154 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 2 – point g
Article 1 – paragraph 2 – point g
Amendment 178 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 13
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 13
(13) 'over-indebted entrepreneur' means a natural person exercising a trade, business, craft or profession, who is otherwise than temporarily unable to pay debts as they fall due;. It also means an entrepreneur who is unable to pay debts he has incurred into as a natural person but that are linked to the financing of the start of his business activity and a person whose business activity is exclusively a side activity and his professional debts and personal debts cannot be reasonably separated.
Amendment 186 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1
Article 3 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure that debtors and entrepreneurs have access to early warning tools which can detect a deteriorating business development and signal to the debtor or the entrepreneur the need to act as a matter of urgency. Member states shall also include banks and non- banking companies in the early warning system scheme, which should provide clear information about the possibilities according to this directive and also possibilities of the financial counselling to the debtor or indebted entrepreneur when they recognize the first signs of their deteriorating financial development. Member states shall also ensure that banks and non-banking companies regularly, and at least once a year, inform the debtor about the exact state of his debts, including all charges and interests.
Amendment 192 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 3
Article 3 – paragraph 3
Amendment 194 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 3
Article 3 – paragraph 3
Amendment 354 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 23 – paragraph 2
Article 23 – paragraph 2
2. Member States may derogate from paragraph 1 and stipulate that professional and personal debts are to be treated in separate procedures, provided that these procedures can be coordinateare demonstrably faster and fmor the purposes of obtaining a discharge in accordance with this Directive efficient than a single procedure.