A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO EXTRA-JUDICIAL ENFORCEMENT AND PRIVATE DEBT COLLECTION - A Comparative Account of Trends, Empirical Evidences, and the Connected Regulatory Challenges - PART TWO
Sažetak
The article is a comparative account of empirical evidences and regulatory responses on the practices and corollary problems of private debt collectors as compared to private bailiffs and repossession agents.
Part Two of this article is an overview of related contemporary laws. Anglo-Saxon systems (United Kingdom and the United States), as possessing the most developed regulatory systems. European civil law jurisdictions, where besides a brief account of Danish, French and Italian laws, the focus is on Germany in which its 2008 Act on Extra Judicial Legal Services is ongoing. Central and Eastern European (post-socialist) systems, all having reformed their bailiff systems, but having failed to face the challenged the appearance of private debt collectors on their markets, will be covered, from Lithuania and Poland, to Croatia and Serbia
Part One of the article has reflected on the importance of extra-judicial enforcement, clarified the terminology, and illustrated the corollary problems through two brief case studies from Hungary. One on the activities of private car-repossession companies, and the other on the aggressive collection practices of private debt collectors. These were then assessed under sector-specific laws of Australia and the United States as developed regulatory systems.
Key terms: extra-judicial (out-of-court) enforcement, self-help repossession, private debt collection, factoring (sale of receivables), hard and soft regulation, self-regulation, secured transactions, leasing, law reforms, comparative law.
Reference
Debt Collection Act 1997 (“Inkassoloven”)
Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 Sept. 2005 on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications.
Civil Enforcement Procedure Code (“Code des procedures civiles d'exécution”)
Criminal Code 1994 (Code Pénal), consolidated version at < https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCode.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006070719>.
Décret 96-1112 du 18 décembre 1996 portant réglementation de l'activité des personnes procédant au recouvrement amiable des créances pour le compte d'autrui (Decree No. 96/1112 of 18 Dec. 1996 on the Regulation of the Activities of Persons Engaged in Peaceful Debt Collection for the Account of Others) (abolished).
Décret No. 2012-783 du 30 mai 2012 relatif à la partie réglementére de code des procédures civiles d’exécution.
Act on the Reform Localization of [Debtors’] Property in Compulsory Civil Enforcement Proceedings (2009) [“Gesetz zur Reform der Sachaufklärung in der Zwangvollstreckung” ],
Bailiff’s Costs Act 2001 (Gesetz über Kosten der Gerichtsvollzieher - GvKostG).
Court Bailiffs Code (Gerichtsvollzieherordnung - GVO)
Code of Civil Procedure (Zivilprozessordnung – ZPO),
Fifth Decree for the Implementation of the Act on Legal Services as of 29th of March 1938 (RGBl I S. 359)
Law against Non-Serious Practices (2013) [Gesetz gegen unseriöse Geschäftspraktiken, 1 Oct. 2013 (BGBI. I 2013, S. 3714).
Law on Extra Judicial Services (“Gesetz über aussergerichtliche Rechtsdienstleistungen” – RDG)
Law on Forced Sales and Receivership (Gesetz über die Zwangsversteigerung und Zwangsverwaltung – ZVG),
Rechtsberatungsgesetz 1935 (Act on Legal Counseling, full title: Gesetz zur Verhütung von Missbräuchen auf dem Gebiete der Rechtsberatung )
Circular 559/C 22103.12015 of 2 July 1996 of the Ministry of Interior
Consolidated Law on Public Security (“Testounico delle leggi di pubblica sicurezza”, R.D. 18 giugno 1931, n. 773 (Gazz. Uff. 26 giugno 1931, n. 146))
Italian Consumer Code – Legislative Decree as of 6 September 2005
Legislative Decree No 385/93
Act on Court Bailiffs, Journal of Laws 2018, 22 March 2018, item 771.
Banking Act (the Act of August 29, 1997 – Banking Law, published in Journal of Laws 1997, no. 72, item 665).
Act on Enforcement and on Preliminary Measures (“Zakon o izvršenju i obezbedjenju”), Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia Nos. 31/11, 99/11, 109/2013, 55/2014 and 139/2014.)
Act on Enforcement and on Preliminary Measures (“Zakon o izvršenju i obezbedjenju”), Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia Nos. ("Sl. glasnik RS") Nos. 106/2015, 106/2016 and 113/2017
Consumer Credit Act (1974)
Financial Services and Markets Act (2000)
Hire-Purchase Act (1965, repealed)
Moneylenders Act (1927)
Pawnbrokers Act (1960).
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA, 1977, last amended in 2010)
Florida Department of States, synopsys of laws, at <https://dos.myflorida.com/sunbiz/forms/judgment-lien/collect-judgment/>.
Uniform Commercial Code (as enacted by the various States).
Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, Draft Law for Strenghtening the Protection of Consumers in the Context of Debt Collection (16 Sept. 2019), [Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Berbesserung des Verbraucherschutzes im Inkassorech],
Consumers and Repossession - A Review of the Credit (Repossession) Act 1997, Report No. 124 of the New Zealand’s Law Commission (April 2012),
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Handbook < https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook >.
Ministry of Justice (UK), Review of the 2014 Enforcement Agent Reforms Introduced by the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 (2018/19).
Office of Fair Trading, Raising Standards of Consumer Care – Progressing beyond codes of Practice (Febr. 1998)
Scottish Law Commission’s ‘Discussion Paper No. 151 on Movable Transactions’ (2011).
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Repairing a Broken System: Protecting Consumers in Debt Collection Litigation and Arbitration (2010); available at <http://www.ftc.gov/os/2010/07/debtcollectionreport.pdf>;
Czech Supreme Court Decision, File No. 20 Cdo 1349/2016 (as of 1 July 2016).
Ante Šumelj and others versus the European Commission (T-546/13, appeal case No. C-239/16P).
Court of Justice, Judgment of July 25, 1991, C-76/90 – Manfred Säger and Dennemeyer & Co. Ltd.
Federal Constitutional Court BVerwG, 16.07.2003 - 6 C 27.02.
Federal Constitutional Court (= BVerfG) Judgment of Oct. 29, 1997 –1 BvR 780/87, BVer-fGE 97, 12, 26ff. = NJW 1998, 3481 (MasterPat).
PS9042-Esattoria-Agenzia Riscossioni. Provvedimento n. 24763, 22 January 2014.
Constitutional Tribunal Decision as of 3 Dec. 2003 (case K 5/02, published in Journal of Laws 2003, No. 212, item 2077).
Galbraith v. Mitchenall Estates Ltd. ([1965] 2 Q.B. 473.)
Adams, N. John & MacQueen, Hector, Atiyah’s Sales of Goods (Pearson, 12th ed., 2010),
Aleknaite, Lina, Enforcement of Contracts in Lithuania, in: Messmann & Tajti, CEE Case Law – Enforcement of Contracts (Eur. University Press, Bochum-Germany, 2009),
Bĕlochlávek, J. Alexander, Autonomy in B2C Arbitration: Is the European Model of Consumer Protection really Adequate?, in: Alexander J. Bĕlochlávek & Nadežda Rozèhnalová, CZECH (& Central European) Yearbook of Arbitration, vol. II (Juris Publishing, 2012).
Black’s Law Dictionary, Bryan A. Garner (editor in chief, DeLuxe, 7th ed., 1999).
Eversloh, Udo, Das Neue REchtsdienstleistungsgesetz (Haufe Mediengruppe, Freiburg-Berlin-München, 2008).
Goode, Roy, Commercial in the Next Millennium (Sweet & Maxwell, 1998),
United Kingdom National Committee of Consumer Law (A.W. Sijthoff – Leyden/Boston, 1978).
Gucineri, Roberta and Fabio Marelli, Fabio, National Report on Italy in: Bernd H. Klose (ed.), ASSET TRACING & RECOVERY – THE FRAUDNET WORD COMPENDIUM (Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin, 2009),
Anna Hergottova, Enforcement of Contracts in the Czech Republic, in: Stefan Messmann & Tibor Tajti, the Case Law of Central and Eastern Europe – Enforcement of Contracts 318-418 (Eur. University Press, Bochum-Germany, 2009).
Kennett, A. Wendy, ENFORCEMENT OF JUDGEMENTS IN EUROPE (OUP, 2000),
Kleine-Cosack, Michael, Rechtsdienstleistungsgesetz (RDG) (C.F. Müller Verlag, Heidelberg, 2008),
Kaźmierczyk, Krzysztof & Kijowski, Filip, Enforcement of Contracts in Poland, in: Messmann & Tajti, CEE Case Law – Enforcement of Contracts at 531-669.
McCormack, Gerard, Pressured by the Paradigm – the Law Commission and Company Security Interests, in: John de Lacy, the Reform of UK Personal Property Security Law 83 (Routledge-Cavendish, 2010), at 83.
Nath, Ravi & Crans, Berend, Aircraft Repossession and Enforcement – Practical Aspects (Aspen Publ., 2010),
MacNeil, Iain, Consumer Dispute Resolution in the UK Financial Sector: the Experience of the Financial Ombudsman Service, Law and Financial Markets Review 515 (Nov. 2007),
Pollock F. & Martland, F., the History of English Law 52-53, 169 (2nded. 1923).
Šite, Davor, Glembajevs, Our Colleagues – Entries on our First Private Bailiffs (Kolege Glembajevi – Zapisi o našim prvim privatnim izvršiteljima, published by Lyceum iuris, Subotica, 2016).
Peter Spiller and Kate Tokeley, Individual Consumer Redress, in: Geraint Howells, Iain Ramsay, Thomas Wilhelmsson and David Kraft (eds.), Handbook of Research on International Consumer Law 482-515 (Edward Elgar, 2010), at 498-99.
Tibor Tajti, Security Rights and Insolvency Law in the Central and Eastern European Systems, in: Gerard McCormack and Reinhard Bork (eds.), SECURITY RIGHTS AND THE EUROPEAN INSOLVENCY REGULATION (Intersentia, Cambridge-Antwerp-Portland, 2017),
Werlauff, Erik, Civil Procedure in Denmark (Wolters Kluwer, 2010).
Woodroffe, Geoffrey & Lowe, Robert, Woodroffe & Lowe’s Consumer Law and Practice (Sweet & Maxwell, 2010).
Bodiroga, Nikola, Sudska kontrola rada izvršitelja [Judicial Control of the Work of Bailiffs], in: Anali Pravnog Fakulteta u Beogradu, vol. LXIII, No. 2-2015.
Bodiroga, Nikola, O ustavnosti izvršenja potraživanja putem privatnih izvršitelja (On the Constitutionality of Enforcement by Private Bailiffs), in: Anali Pravnog Fakulteta u Beogradu, vol. LXII, No. 1/2014, pp. 114-130,
Gerstenberg, Oliver, Private Law and the New European Constitutional Settlement, vol. 10, No. 6 Eur. L. J. 766-798 (Nov. 2004), at 766-67.
Gretton, L. George, ‘Reception without Integration? Floating Charges and Mixed Systems,’ 78 Tul. L. Rev. 307 (2003).
Maganić, Aleksandra, Dejudicizacija ovršnog postupka u Hrvatskoj i nekim zemljama njezina okruženja, in: Zbornik PFZ, vol. 68, Nos. 5-6, pp. 707-737 (2018).
McCall, R. James, the Past as Prologue: A History of the Right to Repossess, 47 S. Cal. L. Rev. 58 (1973).
Nebojša Šarkić and Mladen Nikolić, Sudski izvršitelj ili privatni izvršitelj [Court of Private Bailiffs?], in: Zbornik Radova (2008),
Palmer, Norman & Yates, David, the Application of the Consumer Credit Act to Consumer Hire, 38(1) Cambridge L.J. 180-204 (Apr. 1979).
Pavlović, Marko, Problem Izjednačenja Zakona u Kraljevini Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca/Jugoslaviji, in: 68 Zbornik PFZ 493 (2018).
Remmertz, R. Frank, Scope and Limits of the German Legal Services Act for Legal Tech Service Providers, Compliance Elliance Journal, vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 59-71 (2018),
Uzelac, Alan, Javnobilježnička ovrha i zaštita potrošača: Novi izazovi europeizacije gradjanskog postupka, in: Zbornik PFZ, vol. 68. No. 5-6, pp. 637-660 (2018).
Atradius Collections (Denmark) < https://atradiuscollections.com/global/reports/debt-collections-handbook-dk.html >
Citizens Advice Bureaux (a UK-based registered charity organization <http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk>)
Code of Conduct of ACA International – the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals (2016) at < https://www.acainternational.org/assets/code-of-conduct/2016-code-of-conduct.pdf >;
Credit Services Association [CSA , est. 1902] ( <http://www.csa-uk.com/welcome> )
Difko Inkasso AS (Denmark)– < https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/difko-inkasso#section-overview
EOS company profile: https://www.eos-solutions.com/ >.
EOS Matrix Croatia – list of services at <https://hr.eos-solutions.com/services.html>.
European Union – the E-Justice website – on Germany
Europe Recouvrement”) at <https://www.europages.fr/EUROPE-RECOUVREMENT/FRA807867-
FINA (Financijska agencija’ Croatia), at < https://www.fina.hr >.
Financial Ombudsman Service (UK) < http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk >
Gestion Credit Expert” at <https://www.gestioncreditexpert.com/index.php
‘InsideArm’ (US) (<http://www.insidearm.com/> ).
INTRUM company profile: https://www.intrum.com/about-us/company-info/
Intrum Italy (with 49% Intesa Sanpaolo stake) at < https://www.intrum.it/clienti/chi-siamo/privacy/intrum-in-italia/ >.
National Association of Debt Collectors (Italy) (UNIREC – “Unione Nazionale Imprese a Tutela del Credito”) < http://www.unirec.it/associazione >
National Chamber of French Court Bailiffs (“Chambre Nationale des Huissiers de Justice”) at < https://www.huissier-justice.fr/>;
NORDICO (Denmark) <https://www.tcmgroup.com/debt-collection-denmark >.
‘One Recupero Crediti’ at < https://www.oneinfo.it/recupero-crediti-stragiudiziale> or Astrea S.p.a. <https://www.recuperocreditifacile.com/societa-recupero-crediti/>.
Antelj, Jelica, Izvršitelji zatvorili pola miliona predmeta [Private Bailiffs have Closed Half a Million Cases], in the daily Politika, 24 May 2016 issue.
Bachelor, Lisa, 'Logbook loans' to be Outlawed, Guardian (22 Dec. 2009 issue).
Catan, Thomas, Spain’s Debtors Feel the Shame, in: WSJ, 13 Oct. 2008 issue, at 5.
Jan Cienski, Jan, Debt Collector Took a Polite Approach and it Paid Off, Fin. Times 14 June 2012 issue, at 5.
Lansford, Patrick, More than 3,000 Debt Collection Dismissed per Class Action Settlement (InsideArm, 12 Oct. 2012 issue)
Mikliková, Eliška and Vacek, Lukáš, Is There a Double-Standard for the Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in the Czech Republic?, Kluwer Arbitration Blog as of 3 Oct. 2019.
Müncher, Thomas Inkasso-Terror: Fünf Alarmzeichen, woran Sie einen Betrüger erkennen (30 April 2019), in: FOCUS-Online, available at https://www.focus.de/finanzen/recht/falsche-forderungen-ueberhoehte-gebuehren-nicht-registrierte-firmen-inkasso-terror-fuenf-klare-alarmzeichen-woran-sie-einen-betrueger-erkennen_id_10650574.html?drucken=1
Spiegel Online, Justizministerium will Inkassoabzocke beenden, (26th May 2019, at 16:16), available at < https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/service/ueberzogene-inkassoforderungen-justizminister-will-abzocke-beenden-a-1269350.html >;