New Consumer Bankruptcy in Poland – A New Start Not Only for the Consumer?

Abstract

In Poland, over the past four years we have been witnessing the liberalisation of the laws on consumer bankruptcy which results in an increased number of declared bankruptcies and there are many indications that both phenomena will proceed. This paper deals with some major manifestations of such a liberalisation. It shows that a very significant effect of liberalising the law and bankruptcy regime adopted in Poland is the fact that natural persons conducting business activity increasingly perceive consumer bankruptcy as a chance to get out of financial trouble. An obstacle in taking advantage of such a solution is, among other things, the entrepreneur’s failing to file a petition for declaring bankruptcy within 30 days of becoming "insolvent". As the findings of the conducted interviews show entrepreneurs are not at all aware of such an obligation. In the light of the experience gained, it seems indispensable to stress the importance of educating natural persons about financial issues and insolvency procedures. Obtained results indicate the need to equalize bankruptcy proceedings for all natural persons, regardless of whether they are or are not entrepreneurs, while being an important argument in the current discussion on the government's project of 18 April 2018 for further liberalization of the bankruptcy law.

Keywords: consumer bankruptcy, business bankruptcy, indebtedness and insolvency of households, household behaviour, discharge of debts, bankruptcy law

JEL Classification: K35, D12, D14, G33