Cross-border debt

The European Commission wants to make it easier to recover cross-border debts within the EU. The commission says the current disparity in enforcement laws in member states means efforts to collect cross-border debts are often hampered, with creditors
incurring greater costs and facing delays due to differences in legal systems, procedural requirements and language barriers. Instead the commission is proposing the introduction of a European order for the attachment of bank accounts. This would allow creditors to secure a sum of money due to or claimed by them, by preventing the removal or transfer of funds held to the credit of their debtor in one or several bank accounts within the territory of the EU. The consultation, A Green Paper on Improving the Efficiency of the Enforcement of Judgments in the European Union: The Attachment of Bank Accounts, runs until 31 March 2007.