Poland: Economic Information Offices will be more useful to creditors

Poland

On 13 November 2017, further changes related to the so-called “debt package” came into force pursuant to the Act of 7 April 2017 on amendments to certain acts to facilitate debt collection.

The amendments to the Act on the provision of economic information and the exchange of economic data covered above are intended primarily to increase the usefulness of Economic Information Offices for creditors. It involves allowing creditors to obtain more information on the creditworthiness of their debtors.

In particular, the amendments aim to broaden the scope of data which the offices can access. Under the previous regulations, the offices were entitled to receive data from the PESEL register. The amendment extends the entitlement to the REGON register, the Central Registration and Information on Business, the National Court Register, the Central Register of Restructuring and Bankruptcy, and a new Register of Public Accounts (the provisions in this respect will enter into force on 1 January 2018).

The amendments also envisage an obligation on Economic Information Offices to cooperate with each other. By submitting a request to access economic data concerning a specific entity in one office, a creditor will also be able to obtain information about that entity stored in other offices.

The changes also apply to the conditions of providing information about a debtor’s obligations to an Office. From 13 November 2017, a creditor will be able to provide this information if the debtor’s obligations to the creditor have been due for at least 30 days (instead of – as previously – 60 days) with unchanged minimal amounts. In addition, in relationships between businesses it will be sufficient to send the debtor a call for payment by e-mail if it is possible under the contract between the parties.

On the other hand, the amendment also introduces an additional mechanism for the protection of debtors in the form of the possibility of notifying the creditor of an objection to its intention to transfer data to the Office. A debtor will also be able to make objections to the Office itself regarding transfers or storage of information by the Office that the debtor considers obsolete, inaccurate, incomplete or unlawful.

Source: Act of 7 April 2017 on amendments to certain acts to facilitate debt collection (Journal of Laws of 12 May 2017, Item 933)