From January 2017, creditors domiciled in EU Member States that have signed up to a new European regulation will be able to avail of the new European Account Preservation Order (EAPO) which provides a novel fast track way to preserve funds held in EU bank accounts in cross-border civil and commercial disputes. As the UK and Denmark have opted out of this legislation, this new remedy won’t be available to creditors domiciled in those jurisdictions.
The new system is designed to make it easier to identify and freeze funds in cross-border cases, where the creditor is in one Member State and the funds are held in another. An application can be made by a creditor that has already obtained a judgment or a court settlement, or before the ‘creditor’ initiates proceedings against a debtor and up to obtaining judgment or a court settlement. A ‘creditor’ is defined as a natural or legal person or any other entity domiciled in a Member State having legal capacity to sue or be sued and who applies for, or has already obtained an EAPO.
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