The “Decree on the Suspension of Enforcement and Bankruptcy Proceedings” passed by the Presidency within the scope of the measures taken for the purposes of preventing the spreading of the COVID-19 epidemic (the “Decree”) has been published in the Official Gazette no. 31076 dated March 22, 2020.
As per the mentioned Decree, it is decided that “as from the effective date of the decree until 30/4/2020, (i) all enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings conducted in the entire country, save for enforcement proceedings related to alimony receivables, shall be suspended, (ii) the filing of new enforcement and bankruptcy claims shall not be accepted, and (iii) the precautionary attachment decisions shall not be enforced and executed”.
Subsequently, by the letter of the Department of Enforcement Procedures of the Ministry of Justice dated 24/03/2020 no. 86420598-296/2543, sent to the relevant Chief Public Prosecutor’s Offices, it is stated that, upon the evaluations made in order to eliminate the concerns which may arise during the implementation of the above-mentioned Decree and to procure the unity of practice, it is necessary to display the necessary attention and care with respect to the below-mentioned matters during the implementation of the Decree;
- Since all the enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings initiated in the entire country (save for those related to alimony receivables) have been suspended; obtaining a separate decision on the stay of these proceedings is not necessary.
- The execution of the precautionary injunction decisions passed by the courts will continue.
- Payments made to the enforcement offices shall be accepted and, in cases where issuance of a list of creditors according to the scope of the file is not necessary and where it is understood that the rights of the debtors or third persons will not be infringed, those monies shall be paid to the creditors, and upon the payment of the debt of the file or upon the request of the creditor’s attorney, it will be possible to cancel the annotations of attachment and arrest, and to conduct the procedures for the closure of the file.
- The registration procedures of the auctions which have been held and become final prior to the suspension decision may be performed, and the performance of the delivery procedures will be at the discretion of the enforcement offices in a way not contradicting the measures taken and the purpose of the suspension decision.
- No payment and enforcement order, including those for the proceedings initiated prior to the suspension decision, shall be served during the term of the suspension decision.
- No objection and claim will be accepted since all procedures of parties and proceedings have been suspended under the suspension decision.
- The precautionary attachment decisions, which have been passed prior to or during the term of the suspension decision shall not be executed since the enforcement and execution of those decisions have been suspended.
- In cases where dates of electronic or physical auctions related to the property and rights announced by the enforcement and bankruptcy offices by stating the date of such sales fall within the term of the suspension, a new date of sale after the expiry of the term of the suspension decision shall be given. In this case, considering that it will be convenient to make the announcement through those methods which will increase the number of participants the most with the minimum cost by observing the interests of the parties in line with the principles stipulated in article 114/2 of the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law, and that the announcement has been previously made with the expenses thereof paid, attention will be paid to not lead to the imposition of any additional expenses on the debtor, and the announcements to be made following the suspension period with respect to the goods and services, the sales procedures of which could not be performed due to the suspension decision, shall be made through the National Judiciary Informatics System Leased Properties Enforcement Goods e-Sales Portal (UYAP İcar Malları e-Satış Portalı).
- The terms related to the enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings, as well as the terms under the enforcement and bankruptcy law will not run until the expiry of the suspension period.
Furthermore, as per the circular no. 2020/4 of the Presidency on “Additional Measures for Public Employees within the Scope of COVID-19” published in the Official Gazette no. 31076 dated March 22, 2020, it is stated that it will be convenient to pay attention to keep the number of personnel at the enforcement offices at the minimum, taking the current burden of work into consideration.
This note is intended for general information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a source of legal advice. Independent legal advice should be sought before taking any action based on information contained within this note for each particular case.