Enforcement and Bankruptcy Proceedings Suspended Until April 30, 2020 23 March 2020
Enforcement and Bankruptcy Proceedings Suspended Until April 30, 2020
Within the scope of the measures taken in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 epidemic disease, enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings were stopped until April 30, 2020 by the Presidential Decree numbered 2279 published in the Official Gazette dated 22.03.2020, numbered 31076 and entered into force on the same date.
The main features and execution principles of the said decision are summarized in below articles.
1. What Does It Mean To Stop Enforcement And Bankruptcy Proceedings?
With this regulation, all the execution and bankruptcy proceedings initiated and ongoing nationwide will stop at what stage they are. In other words, the execution files opened will continue to exist, all the attachments will remain, but new attachments will not be possible, new attachments will not be levied and sales will not be realized. All work and transactions will ceased as they exist.
2. Will The Attachments Be Released?
As a result of Presidential Decree, release of any attachments will not be possible. All attachments will continue to exist, no further action will be taken. Sales, sending money to the enforcement offices etc.
3. Can New Enforcement Proceedings Be Commenced?
Presidential Decree clearly states that new execution and bankruptcy proceedings will not be commenced. For this reason, it is not legally possible to commence new enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings in the enforcement and bankruptcy offices between these dates. Nobody will be able to initiate a new enforcement proceedings against anyone.
4. On Which Dates Will The Enforcement And Bankruptcy Proceedings Stop Exactly?
Pursuant to the Presidential Decree numbered 2279, enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings will be suspended between 22.03.2020 – 30.04.2020.
5. Is There Any Exception?
Follow-up regarding child support receivables is exempted in the Presidential Decree numbered 2279.Therefore the procedures, works and transactions related to the enforcement proceedings for child support receivables will continue to be applied. The decision will not apply to the child support receivables.
Therefore, it is possible to initiate and advance enforcement proceedings regarding child support receivables, for example it is possible to initiate enforcement proceedings and also attachment proceedings can be applied for an initiated follow-up.
6. Are There Any Geographically Exempted Cities Or Regions?
Presidential Decree numbered 2279 related to the cessation of enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings is a regulation introduced in terms of all enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings “carried out nationwide”. For this reason, it will be applied across the country without any city, region or jurisdiction restrictions.
7. What Are The Enforcement And Bankruptcy Proceedings Suspended Across The Country Between 22.03.2020 – 30.04.2020?
All enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings between the dates specified in the Decision, which are not subject to the child support receivables, stopped at that stage at that time. For this reason, it is not possible to initiate a new enforcement or bankruptcy proceedings between 22.03.2020 – 30.04.2020 for the receivables not related to the child support receivables, to carry out any follow-up transactions for the enforcement or bankruptcy proceedings that started before 22.03.2020. In addition, it is clearly mentioned in the Decision that new enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings will not be taken.
It is necessary to underline once again that between 22.03.2020-30.04.2020, new enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings will not be initiated and new enforcement proceedings will be made only in terms of the child support receivables. It is also regulated in the Decision that provisional attachment decisions cannot be enforced or executed. In other words, while it is possible to have provisional attachment decision, the execution and enforcement of the provisional attachment decisions given by the Court were stopped and the enforcement of the provisional attachment decisions was prevented.
8. Is There Any Exceptional Regulation In Terms Of Provisional Attachment Decisions?
The Presidential Decree numbered 2279 has only one exception which is related to the child support receivables and does not impose an exceptional regulation for the enforcement and execution for the provisional attachment decisions. Therefore, as a “rule”, the possibility to request from courts to issue a provisional attachment order was not removed, but the execution and enforcement of the provisional attachment decisions were stopped between 22.03.2020-30.04.2020. Consequently, the duration for the complementary formal procedure for the provisional attachment proceedings has also stopped. The duration related to the complementary formal procedure will continue to resume on 30.04.2020. To be more precise, all durations for a pending provisional attachment decisions has already been stopped and will start to resume after 30.04.2020.
9. What Is The Legal Basis Of The Decision?
Article 330 of Bankruptcy and Enforcement Law dated 2004 regulates that “In case of epidemic disease, a common misfortune or war, enforcement proceedings may be suspended by Presidential Decree for a certain period of time in some part of the country or in favor of some economic groups”. The Presidential Decree numbered 2279 was taken using this legal basis and it was decided to suspend the execution and bankruptcy proceedings.
10. What Is The Purpose Of The Decision?
As it is known, COVID-19, which is defined as the new type of corona virus, has been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. In order to prevent the spread of the epidemic in our country, it was decided to stop enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings with the Presidential Decree numbered 2279.
11. What Will Be Happen After 30.04.2020?
Enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings were stopped until 30.04.2020 by the Presidential Decree numbered 2279. After this date, if no new decision is taken, enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings will continue from where they left off. The possibility to initiate follow-up and party transactions will be regained. All durations stopped between 22.03.2020-30.04.2020 will start to resume. Therefore, from 04.05.2020, the enforcement and bankruptcy offices will continue to carry out all the transactions.
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