Status of Digitalisation of ESCP Enforcemnt Procedures
If enforcement procedure is under jurisdiction of the court, as previously explained, Civil Procedure Act (Zákon č. 99/1963 Sb., Občanský soudní řád; hereinafter: CPA) will apply. In that case electronic communication is provided through data box. CPA regulates in § 47 submission of documents through data box. Additionally, EA explicitly regulates that communication can be electronic (§ 43a/2).
It is regulated that, together with the request, the executor sends to the court an enforcement proposal, or a proposal for a declaration of enforceability or recognition and all the documents that he has attached to the proposal. The application, including all documents that are sent to the court together with it, must be submitted on an electronic form through a public data network (data box); if this is not technically possible, the application and documents can be in the paper form (§ 43a/2).
Special platform for enforcement procedure doesn’t seem to exist.
ESCP Procedural Aspects
1. Competent Enforcement Authority
Enforcement procedure in Czech Republic is divided between regular civil courts and bailiffs. When it comes to the jurisdiction of the competent courts, the same rules apply as for the civil procedure. Under those rules plaintiff may lodge an application for judicial enforcement of a decision with the district court that has territorial jurisdiction. Enforcement procedure is regulated in § 251 – 351a of the CPA. On the other hand, plaintiff can lodge an application for an enforcement order with any court bailiff. In that case, Act. num. 120/2001 on court bailiffs and enforcement activities (Zákon č. 120/2001 Sb., Zákon o soudních exekutorech a exekuční činnosti (exekuční řád) a o změně dalších zákonů; hereinafter:EA) will apply.
2. Rules on Service
Special service for electronic communication in Czech Republic is called “data box”. It is an online service which can be used free of charge and is used by authorised persons.[1] According to e-justice portal, such data boxes are used primarily by legal persons registered in the commercial register, legal persons established by law, spin-off companies of foreign legal persons registered in the commercial register, lawyers, tax advisors and bankruptcy administrators. There is an obligation to set up a data box for those entities. For other types of legal and natural persons, data boxes are set up upon request. Special regulation is applicable on electronic communication – Act No 300/2008 on electronic transactions, personal identification numbers and authorised document conversion (Zákon č. 300/2008 Sb., Zákon o elektronických úkonech a autorizované konverzi dokumentů). Forms in the ESCP procedures can be sent through “data box”.[2]
3. Language of the Certificate and Documents to be Appended
In enforcement procedure the official language is Czech. If the applicant’s mother language is other than Czech, the executor can hire an interpreter. A person close to the applicant or someone who is involved in the matter cannot be hired as an interpreter (§ 76c EA).
4. Enforcement Fees
Part 21 of the annex of the Zákon č. 549/1991 Sb.; Zákon České národní rady o soudních poplatcích, regulates that the fee for a proposal to order the execution of a decision is:
- CZK 1,000 (cca. €40) if monetary payment is up to the amount of CZK 20,000 (cca. €814);
- 5% of the amount if monetary payment is demanded in an amount greater than CZK 20,000 (cca. €814) and lower than CZK 4,000,000 (cca. €162,880).
Fees are paid by a bank transfer to the account of the competent court. Bank details can be found on the website of each court, available at the Internet portal https://www.justice.cz/.
Fees of up to CZK 5,000 can also be paid by fee stamps.
5. Refusal, Stay, or Limitation of Enforcement Procedures
Competent authority are district courts (okresní soudy).[3] According to Art 268 of the CPA, the execution of the decision will be stopped if:
(a) it has been ordered, although the decision has not yet become enforceable;
b) the decision, which is the basis of enforcement, was cancelled or became ineffective after ordering enforcement;
c) the suspension of the execution of the decision was proposed by the person who proposed its order;
d) the execution of the decision affects things that are excluded from it according to § 321 and 322 or property from which the recovered claim cannot be satisfied;
e) the progress of the execution of the decision shows that the income it will achieve will not even be sufficient to cover its costs;
f) it has been legally decided that the enforcement of the decision affects property to which someone has a right that does not allow for the enforcement of the decision (§ 267);
g) after the issuance of the decision, the right granted by it has lapsed, unless the enforcement of the decision has already been carried out; if the right was granted by a default judgment, the execution of the decision will be stopped even if the right expired before this judgment was issued;
h) execution of the decision is inadmissible because there is another reason why the decision cannot be executed.
The execution of the decision will also be stopped if the debtor has made a justified deduction from the recovered monetary claim as determined by special regulations and paid this deduction to the competent authority, to the extent that he was obliged to make this deduction. Enforcement of the decision by selling the pledge will also be stopped if the right of pledge has expired. If one of the reasons for the suspension only partially relates to the ordered execution of the decision, or if the execution of the decision was ordered to a wider extent than is sufficient to satisfy the beneficiary, the execution of the decision will be partially stopped.
Critical Assessment
The whole process of the enforcement should be adapted to foreign creditors with at least some information on English language.
[1] See more on how to use data box: https://pexpats.com/czech-datova-schranka.
[2] On electronic communication in ESCP see: Xandra E. Kramer: Small claim, simple recovery? The European small claims procedure and its implementation in the member states, ERA Forum, 12,2011, p. 129.
[3] See more under 2. Competent court or authority and procedure involved in the enforcement of ESCP judgments.