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European Regulation no. 655/2014 of 15th May 2014 establishes a procedure by which creditors may apply to obtain a preservation order on bank accounts of the debtor, so as to facilitate the cross-border debt recovery in civil and commercial matters.

Such procedure, applicable since 18th January, allows, in cross-border cases, for the preservation, in an efficient and speedy way, of funds held in bank accounts.

A creditor may request the issuing of the order by using a form, set out by Implementing Regulation no. 1823 of 10th October 2016. In such form, details of the creditor and of the debtor, as well as the existence of an urgent need and of a real risk, are to be indicated.

Indeed, in order to obtain the issuing of an order, the creditor is required to demonstrate that their claim is in urgent need of judicial protection and that, without the order itself, the enforcement of a judgment may be impeded because there is a real risk that, by the time the creditor is able to have that judgment enforced, the debtor may have dissipated, concealed or destroyed their assets or have disposed of them under value, to an unusual extent or through unusual action.

Once issued, the order is recognized in the other Member States without any special procedure being required. According to the Regulation, the order is enforced in accordance with the procedures applicable to the enforcement of equivalent national orders in the Member State of enforcement.