Be Wary of Consequences of Delivery of Documents by Insolvency Administrator

According to the current Czech law, the insolvency administrator assumes a specific status in the process of the insolvency proceedings, which, inter alia, affects the understanding of his role in delivery of documents.

The Insolvency Act states that the administrator that assumes the status of a process-server if they deliver the documents in person. However the Czech Supreme Court has recently been faced with a question whether this is also the case if the documents are delivered electronically (via email, databox etc.) In that case, the delivery would only be effective if it was confirmed by the recipient within three days after it being sent by the administrator.

In the heard case, the recipient confirmed the delivery after seven days, though, and later contested its validity and, relying on the ‘late delivery’, missed the deadline for filing a suit for verification of the claim authenticity.

The Supreme Court dismissed the recipient’s claim ruling that the insolvency administrator maintains a status of a private person when delivering documents electronically; thus, it is not necessary for the delivery to be effective to be confirmed by the recipient no later than three days after the dispatch.

In the view of the above, we strongly recommend that due attention should be paid to all documents delivered via email – such deliveries become effective immediately and no confirmation is required, which may also affect any terms connected with the insolvency proceedings. 

 

Mgr. Jan Hlubuček