The European law-imput for optimisation of Polish insolvency law. About European Directive regarding preinsolvency procedure

On 26 June 2019 the Directive was published in the Official Journal Directive 2019/1023 on preventive restructuring frameworks, on discharge of debt. The European Union Directive aims at harmonizing Member State restructuring and insolvency laws and should be adopted and published by 17 July 2021. The Directive includes provisions ius cogens, which Member States have to implement, and ius dispositivum which Member States may implement.

Several procedures included in the European Union Directive were introduced by Poland in the Insolvency Law Act which entered into force only in 2016. The most important regulations in the Directive include the preventive restructuring procedure, moratorium for enforcement actions, second chance for entrepreneurs, early warning mechanism, and the legal framework for the restructuring plan. In July 2019 Polish parliament passed an important amendment of Insolvency Law. This amendment, which concerns consumer insolvency, partly contradicts the Directive insofar as it allows the discharge only for honest debtors.

Keywords: preventive restructuring, second chance, ius dispositivum, ius cogens, moratorium for enforcement, consumer insolvency