Bank enforcement order against the law

The bank enforcement order is a document that confirms the actual existence of receivables against the bank. Such a document is a declaration of will of the person performing some legal transaction with the bank and thus protects the bank against unreliable payers. The entire essence and function of the bank enforcement order is manifested in the fact that after the court issues an enforcement clause, such a document rises to the rank of an enforceable title and therefore may constitute the basis for initiating court enforcement by a court bailiff.

Bank enforcement order - is it the end?

For a long time, there have been disputes around the bank's Enforcement Order as to the legitimacy and legality of its operation. Many specialists as well as lawyers accused the banks of the illegal practice they carry out by issuing such a document. The main accusation against the banks was that they were privileged in relation to other creditors.

Such an objection seems to be justified, because it is enough for the bank to inspect the loan agreement concluded with the customer, find that the contract is not being performed correctly and then, by sending notifications, it will warn the customer, and actually has the right to terminate the loan or issue bank enforcement order containing the indicated amount to be paid and may ask the court to issue an enforcement clause.

It is crucial that in such a situation the court does not examine the correctness of the document issued by the bank at all and does not conduct any explanatory proceedings in this respect. The court only checks the BTE for its technical compliance. If the court finds that everything is fine, the bank may ask the bailiff to perform enforcement actions (most often this is the attachment of the client's salary).

Ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal in the BTE case

The April ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal turned out to be a turning point in the functioning of the bank enforcement order. The Tribunal stated that the bank enforcement order is too much in favor of banks at the expense of citizens and must be thoroughly changed. It is true that the Court's ruling does not mention directly that this institution should disappear completely, but it was concluded that key banking law provisions regulating the functioning of BTE should be changed.

The fundamental provision of the banking law was deleted, stating that "On the basis of bank books or other documents related to the performance of banking activities, banks may issue bank enforcement orders". As it is easy to see, the deletion of this provision de facto ends the issuance of BTE by banks. The Tribunal decided that the new regulations entered into force in 2016.