The National Register of Debtors (KRZ) has been implemented several years ago. The portal is the place where, among other things, most of the activities concerning bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings are carried out. While at first feelings about its operation were rather skeptical, over time they seem to be slowly changing to the positive.
KRZ – what is it?
One of the main functions of the NCR is to disclose information about debtors in the broad sense. This refers, for example, to natural or legal persons against whom restructuring or bankruptcy proceedings are (or have been) carried out, as well as proceedings for a ban on business activity, or against whom maintenance payments are being enforced (if they are in arrears with payment of such payments for more than 3 months).
Restructuring and bankruptcy proceedings and the NCR
The NCR system also has other functions. As a rule, pleadings and most documents in restructuring and bankruptcy proceedings should be filed through it. If a letter is filed in any other way (e.g., traditionally – by mail), it will have no legal effect (colloquially speaking – it will not be taken into account).
However, there are exceptions to the above rule, and they apply to certain groups of creditors (generally speaking, these include maintenance creditors, creditors who have claims from the employment relationship or pensions). Such persons have the option of sending a letter in the traditional way or going to the court’s registry office, where an employee will generate their letter in the system.
Performing matters through the NDC
It seems that the NDC system can sometimes be unintuitive to a sizable part of its users, especially those who do not use it on a daily basis. An example could be voting on the conclusion of agreement through the system. Thus, an encountered practice is for the arrangement supervisors themselves to provide detailed instructions on how to navigate the system and attach them to the arrangement ballot sent to creditors. This is a significant convenience, speeding up the casting of votes – and often even making it possible to cast a vote at all.
The implementation of the NCR system in general should be considered a very positive initiative, with the prospect of greatly simplifying obtaining information and conducting court proceedings. On the other hand, it certainly requires some implementation, especially by those encountering it for the first time.
Until the end of 2021, information on bankruptcy proceedings had to be sought from a variety of sources – in practice, knowledge of such proceedings was most often obtained from an extract from the KRS of the entity in question. For more than six months now, the National Debtor Register has been in place, which should contain comprehensive information in this respect.
