Polish Ministry of Finance to introduce a public debt registry

A novelization of Polish administrative enforcement proceedings law will allow the creation of an electronic, publicly available debt registry, business news portal TVN 24 Biznes i Swiat announced.

 “Natural persons will be able to use the registry but they will have to know details of a person they are looking for. A full version of the registry will be available for creditors and enforcement agencies”, Ministry of finance spokesperson, Wiesława Drozdz, said.

 The registry will include every debtor whose public debt exceeds PLN 500.

 A creditor will be obliged to warn a debtor about publishing his details in the registry 30 days before a publication.

 In the beginning the registry will be uploaded with information about the debtors to the tax office and customs agencies as both services have IT systems, which mean there should be no problems transferring data. Data from other institutions such as the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), voivodships and local administrations will be included later.

 The Ministry of Finance estimates that creating the registry at a cost of PLN 3.8 mln will increase a budget income by PLN 2.5 bln in a first year and PLN 13.750 bln in 10 years. The ministry estimates that after the first warning 12 percent of debtors will pay their arrears.

 Information published in the registry will include the name, address and company name of a debtor and a creditor together with an amount of debt but without interest or additional costs.

Photo courtesy of Prajar90.