SchKG: free market access for creditor representation
Anyone who represents creditors on a professional basis will have free access to the market throughout Switzerland as of January 1, 2018. The Federal Council today enacted the amendment to the Federal Act on Debt Collection and Bankruptcy, or SchKG, as of this date.
Under current law, the cantons may determine the conditions under which a person may professionally represent third parties before the debt collection and bankruptcy offices and in certain related court proceedings. However, only a few cantons have enacted corresponding regulations. Professional representatives from a canton in which there are no licensing requirements cannot currently act in those cantons that require a corresponding license.
With the entry into force of the amendment to the law, the cantonal competence to regulate the professional representation of creditors will be abolished. Under the new law, all persons capable of acting may act as representatives of parties in compulsory enforcement proceedings, in particular also legal entities (collection agencies, legal protection insurers, etc.). Free access to the market is thus guaranteed. This new regulation corresponds to the practice already in force in most cantons.
Simpler procedures
In Switzerland, more than 2.5 million debt collection proceedings are initiated every year; the debt collection procedure is a mass procedure. The new law creates a uniform enforcement area throughout Switzerland, in which the same rules apply everywhere. This will result in considerable savings potential. In the future, it will be possible in all cantons to be represented by a debt collection agency in the legal opening procedure and no longer necessarily by a lawyer or a legal agent. This will enable certain creditors to save costs.
Source: Federal Department of Justice and Police
