Press Release: European Commission to help businesses recover an extra €600 million in cross-border debts

The European Commission on 25 July 2011 proposed a new Europe-wide preservation order to ease the recovery of cross-border debts for both citizens and businesses.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up 99% of businesses in the EU. Around 1 million of these face problems with cross-border debts. Procedures for recovering debts from another country's jurisdiction are complex, multiplying the costs for businesses that wish to trade across EU borders. Typical problems range from differences in national law to the costs of hiring an additional lawyer and translating documents. Individuals face similar difficulties when seeking to get their money back from a rogue trader or maintenance defaulter in another EU country.

This legislative initiative aims to facilitate these cross-border claims and gives creditors more certainty about recovering their debt, thereby increasing confidence in trading within the EU’s single market. It is part of the Commission's "justice for growth" agenda, which seeks to harness the potential of the EU's common area of justice for trade and growth.

• Primary Source

European Commission: Memo/11/540: European Commission to help businesses and consumers recover cross-border debts – Frequently Asked Questions http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/11/540&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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