The Regulation on Investigating Asset, Right and Receivable through the National Judiciary Informatics System (the “Regulation”) has been published in the Official Gazette.
The Regulation sets out the details of the amendments introduced to the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Code, which enables a creditor pursuing a debtor through execution proceedings, to investigate and ascertain the debtor’s assets, rights and receivables with ease via the on-line National Judiciary Informatics System (“UYAP”). A pre-condition is that the prescribed period stated in the payment order to pay the debt must have expired and any objection to the debt must have been lifted.
Before the relevant amendments to the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Code, creditors had to request the bailiff to send warrants to the relevant institutions to investigate the assets of the debtors, which was time consuming and costly. This in turn increased the risk that the debtor could utilise the delay to hide its assets.
The investigation stipulated under the Regulation extends to searches on motor vehicles, immovable property and accounts at Turkish banks and other financial institutions. Moreover, creditors are also entitled to investigate the employment status of the debtors and whether the debtors have receivables under other execution proceedings as creditors.
Last but not least, creditors can also trigger the mechanism to seize the assets, rights and receivables of the debtors via UYAP without having to travel to the bailiff’s office to complete paper formalities. Considering the ever increasing workload of bailiff’s offices in Turkey, the Regulation is a most welcome development and most likely to be a significant time saver for creditors.
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