European Account Preservation Order

On 25^th of July 2011 the Commission of the EU presented a Proposal for a Regulation establishing a new European Account Preservation Order. The proposal aims at facilitating the cross-border debt recovery in civil and commercial matters. This instrument shall prevent debtors from moving their assets during the time it takes from the start of the proceedings in one Member State until the enforcement of the judgment in other Member State.

The European Account Preservation Order shall introduce a unified procedure for all EU, being an alternative to the respective national systems for preserving funds. The Regulation will only apply to cross-border cases and the European Account Preservation Order will be issued in an ex parte procedure. The instrument provides common rules relating to jurisdiction, conditions and procedure for issuing an order; a disclosure order relating to bank accounts; how it should be enforced by national courts and authorities; and remedies for the debtor and other elements of defendant protection.