With the current economic crisis significantly affecting global business, certain procedural remedies can be particularly useful in order to deal with unpaid debts.
The most common of these procedural remedies in Spain is the so-called 'proceso monitorio', which consists of a special payment procedure used for the recovery of specific monetary debts which:
Tax treatment in the hands of the creditor
In Sweden, debt is typically waived through either judicial settlement (Sw. offentligt ackord) (which will not be discussed here) or through private settlement (Sw. underhandsackord) between creditor and debtor.
On 1 January 2019, the revised Section of the Swiss Private International Law Act (PILA) regarding cross-border insolvencies entered into force. The revision became necessary as the previous regulation was criticised in particular for its protectionist elements, which also were a recurring topic in discussions with foreign colleagues and insolvency practitioners. Particularly compared to other European countries, Switzerland had apparent modernisation potential.
The Swiss Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Act (DEBA) allows the initiation of debt enforcement proceedings before a court becomes involved. A creditor can request the competent debt enforcement office (normally at the domicile of the debtor) to issue a payment order to the debtor. The office serves that payment order without verifying the existence and enforceability of the purported claim; however, the debtor may declare its objection, within 10 days, to the debt enforcement office.
On October 14 2015 the Federal Council published a revision project for the Private International Law Act regarding the recognition and coordination of foreign bankruptcy proceedings in Switzerland.
A foreign insolvency decree can be recognised in Switzerland, at request of the foreign liquidator or a creditor, only if:
The Swiss Federal Assembly has passed the revised Swiss restructuring law in the closing vote of 21 June 2013. The referendum deadline has expired uncalled on 10 October 2013. The primary aim of the partial revision of the Swiss Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Act is to facilitate restructurings.
Drawing on the experiences gained from the Swissair grounding in 2001, many critical voices have been raised that Swiss insolvency law should be revised and should focus more on the restructuring of companies rather than their liquidation. Now, 12 years after the commencement of the Swissair insolvency proceedings and after various discussions and negotiations in the Swiss parliament, the revised Swiss insolvency law finally entered into force as of 1 January 2014.