CITR: From 1 January 2018, Romanians could gain protection from foreclosure

The insolvency law for individuals, which was already postponed three times, entered force on 1 January 2018, but cannot be applied due to certain impediments relating to procedures in place, CITR.

According to the CITR, the most important issues are the lack of insolvency committees at a local level, where the insolvency files should be submitted, and the fact that the List of the administrators of procedures and receivers in bankruptcy for the insolvency procedure of individuals, meaning the experts authorised to take care of this type of procedure.

“We are talking about an extremely important law for the health of the economic flow and for the social protection, which in Romania comes late and which, even worse, cannot be applied. Even if we had today the local committees, a few months would still be necessary in order to complete the logistic side, inform the citizens on the procedure, as well as for completing the list of experts that will be nominated by the committees to manage the procedure for individuals. We have been talking about the wolf coming for the sheep for over two years, and the event has caught us unawares. All we can do by the time the law becomes functional, is to make a joint effort to inform the debtors who are not informed, individuals,” Vasile Godinca-Herlea, CITR CEO, part of CITR Group, said.

The main benefits of such a law among Romanians who deal with financial issues, CITR notes, are the fact that it ensures a mechanism to erase or reschedule in certain conditions of debts, financial education, social protection of certain vulnerable social categories, or protection for foreclosure.

The law of insolvency for individuals has a long history in other European countries, such as France, Germany, but also in the region, for instance in the Czech Republic.