On June 28, 2017, the National Council passed the amendment to private insolvency (debt settlement procedure), which, on the one hand, should also give failed self-employed / sole proprietors, as well as those who have no assets, better opportunities to get out of debt and start anew. In principle, the minimum quota that regularly had to be achieved in a recovery procedure for a legally enforceable claim to discharge of residual debts (previously 10%) is no longer applicable and will also be the duration of the period The levy procedure was shortened from seven to five years.
It is also important that if there is no income, a payment plan no longer has to be offered, but the skimming procedure can be applied for straight away.
In principle, the regulations come into force on November 1, 2017 and apply to insolvency proceedings opened after October 31, 2017. However, the entry into force and transitional provisions are very differentiated.

On June 28, 2017, the National Council passed the Insolvency Law Amendment Act 2017 (IRÄG 2017, BGBL I No. 122/2017), with which the Insolvency Code (IO), the Court Fees Act (GebG), the Insolvency Remuneration Guarantee Act (IESG) and the Execution Order (EO) be changed. The focus and objective of the legislature was to make it easier to obtain discharge from residual debts, including for failed (sole) entrepreneurs or debtors with no income at all, with the government draft adopted from a directive proposed by the EU Commission and from the media Known key points (duration of the procedure three years and elimination of a quota requirement) ultimately could not be fully implemented despite the resistance of the creditors’ representatives. In addition to the focus of the amendment on private insolvency law, further clarifications and adjustments will be made in the IO as a result of the amendment, and individual regulations in the GebG, IESG and the EO will also be changed or adapted, although the changes cannot be discussed in detail here.
You can find further details in our current newsletter!

Newsletter