site.bta Socialists Move Civil Procedure Code Revisions Targeting Fair and Equitable Treatment of Creditors and Debtors

Socialists Move Civil Procedure Code Revisions Targeting Fair and Equitable Treatment of Creditors and Debtors

Sofia, September 3 (BTA) - The BSP-Left Bulgaria Parliamentary Group has laid before the National Assembly draft amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) said in a press release on Saturday.

The draft legislation seeks, basically, to speed up and improve the efficiency of court procedures and to provide better protection to both creditors and debtors. The idea is to put the service of summonses and communications on an equal footing. According to the proposals, notices will be posted on the addressee's door or letter box only after the respondent has not been found at the address named by him in the course of one month. Servers will be required to pay at least three visits to the named address at intervals of at least one week.

The Left MPs propose a uniform rate of stamp duty on ownership actions and setting that rate as a percentage of the cost of action. They also want the order of payment proceedings to be revised, giving banks a level playing field with the rest of the subjects of law. The reasoning to the proposed amendments stat that, under the effective version of the Code, lodging an objective by the debtor against the bank's receivable does not stay the enforcement of the obligation, i.e. the bank first collects the obligation and only then it can be established whether such an obligation exists at all and whether the amount claimed by the bank is the one actually due. The Socialists want a debtor's objection to stay enforcement by the bank. The revisions guarantee protection of the debtor's rights, making an ad hoc representative mandatory.

Last but not least, an opportunity is provided for an appeal of the valuation allowed by the enforcement agent, and a requirement is introduced for bidding at a public auction to start at the tax-assessed value of the immovable property. An expert witness would mandatorily be appointed to determine the value of the things against which the enforcement is levied. The Left MPs also propose a stay of the enforcement proceeding upon remittance of 20 per cent of the obligation.

According to the bill, the unseizable income would be fixed by an act of government. The Socialists recall that this income has not been adjusted since 2008 despite the changes in the minimum wage.