The General Council of Spanish Lawyers (CGAE) has just presented a pioneering functionality in its debtors’ file. The Registry of Judicial Unpaid Debtors (RIJ) has thus become the most guaranteeing in the notifications to the debtor.
This new service will allow corporate lawyers to claim any debt free of charge. It does not matter if a final court decision has already recognised the debt. Nor does it matter whether the debt is in the process of being judicially settled or has already been settled. In the latter case, the only condition is that its existence or amount is not being disputed by the debtor in the judicial proceedings.
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Free order for payment and free notification
The Spanish Bar Association’s Registry of Judicial Unpaid Debts now offers a new way of publishing debts in the RIJ Credit Information System. With this new method, the prior payment request and the notification of inclusion can be made directly through the court. Thus, the creditor company has three options for doing so, free of charge:
- In court proceedings.
- Through demand.
- In a subsequent procedural
One of the main advantages is that, by claiming and notifying debts through the courts, the risk of suffering sanctions and compensation for violating the affected party’s right to honour is reduced.
Faster and cheaper
Until now, and since the launch of the RIJ in 2019, the registered letter or burofax has been the way to carry out notifications.
In view of the general increase in delinquency, this new functionality optimises the service for the reduction and prevention of non-payments of the Spanish Lawyers’ Credit Information System (Sistema de Información Crediticia de la Abogacía Española). It speeds up the work of lawyers and maintains all the legal guarantees in the process of notifying the debtor. It also saves time and money.
Thus, the aim is to avoid future risks of non-payment and to prevent default. Companies, the self-employed, individuals and financial institutions can consult the information published in the CGAE’s file of defaulters. This information is available through its strategic partner, Informa D&B, and the multinational Experian.
A legal revolution for legal default
The CGAE has just presented this new possibility at the 17th Legal Congress of the Legal Profession held on 27 and 28 October in Málaga. In her speech, the legal manager of the RIJ, Reyes Rodríguez Zarza, explained that “the Supreme Court has stated in numerous rulings that in order to presume the lawful processing of personal data in debtors’ files it is a requirement to have requested payment from the debtor with the express warning that if they do not pay they may be included in these files“. Although “neither the law nor case law establishes the means by which such a communication must be made, they do require that it be receptive (that the means used allows the delivery to be accredited)”, warned Rodríguez Zarza.
In conclusion, the head of the RIJ emphasised that “the possibility of notifying the debtor of the payment demand in a receptive manner, by means of a simple written document, represents a legal revolution and an unprecedented novelty in the form of communication required by the Supreme Court before the debtor is included in a default file, making the RIJ an essential working tool to reduce and prevent default, in a particularly complicated economic context”.