After today's meeting the Council of Ministers has released a note in which it announces that it has approved, on a proposal from the Minister of Justice, a bill amending the law of 27 January 2012, n. 3, on over-indebtedness.
The objective of this provision, the need for which arises from the economic crisis that has hit the country, is to remedy the difficulties of the debtor who has contracted obligations for purposes unrelated to his business, widening the opportunity to benefit from civil bankruptcy also to subjects excluded from the bankruptcy law, i.e. families, small and medium-sized enterprises and micro-enterprises. The ultimate goal is to stimulate, in this way, spending on consumer goods and investments by SMEs.
This new tool for conflict management is, moreover, iin line with the laws of the member states of the Eurozone, which are already equipped with procedures of this type.
The note summarizes the main changes contained in the bill: the obligation of the agreement between the debtor and the creditors expires, and even creditors who do not adhere to the agreement can be, in court, subject to the effects of the procedure, as well as privileged creditors.
It also comes reduced the threshold for reaching an agreement from 70% to 60% of credits between non-consumer debtor and creditors and a new procedure is introduced which makes it necessary for the debtor consumer to present a plan drawn up with the collaboration of a specific crisis settlement body, which evaluates and guarantees the feasibility of the restructuring plan.
