Are you an entrepreneur who is demanding payment from his contractor in court and you are afraid that he will lose liquidity or even go bankrupt due to an ongoing pandemic? From January 2020, under the Act of 19 July 2019 amending certain acts to reduce payment congestion, you can use a simplified procedure to secure your claim.

The simplified procedure allows you to secure your claim in form of, for example, blocking of funds in the counterparty’s bank account so that he will be able to return the amount awarded to you at the time of the final judgment.

In traditional procedure, the claimant must prove only probability of existence of a claim and a legal interest. While it is relatively easy to prove a claim before the court – it is sufficient to present, among other things, the contract concluded between the parties and the invoices issued, on the basis of which we are claiming the payment due – the indication of the legal interest requires a comprehensive argumentation. The current economic situation, due to its precedence, does not make it easier for an entrepreneur to prove that his fears about the debtor’s future solvency are real.

According to the new regulation, the entrepreneur – the claimant, if the value of the commercial transaction does not exceed PLN 75,000.00 and the receivable has not been paid and at least 3 months have passed since the payment deadline – does not have to justify a legal interest in providing collateral. All you have to do is submit to the court an application for granting the security, to which you will attach the agreement as well as the invoice and will pay for the application properly.

Aforementioned regulation brings a lot of conveniences, but it is also questionable. However, it is certain that the simplification of the collateral procedure in b2b relationships, with a relatively low transaction value, allows entrepreneurs to effectively claim the outstanding payments.

Author: Oliwia Kruczyńska, Junior Associate at Kołecka & Partners LLP