The European Account Preservation Order can be issued within the frame of cross- border litigation cases. It can be issued either before a lawsuit is filed, or during the procedure or after a judgment or in general an enforcement title has been issued. It covers only pecuniary claims and it does not apply in cases of familiar matters, wills, arbitration, and bankruptcy procedures.
It is a kind of preliminary measure and it has the advantage that the opposite party is not necessary to be notified for this procedure. Actually the opposite party should not be notified because he/she might have the time to remove his/her deposits. The procedure is written before the Court (which is competent also for the main claim) and the applicant should prove with documents the existence of the claim and the reason for which this preliminary measure should be taken (to claim and prove an immediate danger for the claim). In case the applicant is not aware of full details regarding the debtor’s accounts, the Court might ask from the relevant authority to provide details for debtor’s accounts. But the applicant should be in the position to give details regarding the member state and the exact address of the banks where the accounts are kept.
The applicant has the possibility to ask for this order before he files a lawsuit. In that case, he will have to file the lawsuit either within 30 days from the filling of the application or within 14 days from the issuance of the Order. If he doesn’t file the lawsuit within this time frame, the Order loses its validity. In that case (when the Order is issued before the creditor files a lawsuit or acquires an enforcement title) the creditor might be asked to pay an amount of “guarantee”, because there is no enforcement title to prove finally the existence of the claim and the debtor might be submitted to a damage within the frame of this procedure. The creditor will receive back the amount of the guarantee when he will have won the case finally before the Courts.
When the Order is issued, it should be notified to the banks. The banks will have to prepare a declaration within a brief time limit regarding the amounts which were seized and this declaration will be filed to the Court.
The above procedure can be an alternative to the internal procedures (i.e. it is not an obstacle for us to take also preliminary measures according to the internal law). Its advantage is that the Order is immediately enforceable (only translation will be needed) also to the territory of other member states (provided that creditor has provided details for the banks where the accounts are kept).
