Franc Act. We know the most important assumptions of the regulation that Swiss franc borrowers are waiting for
We do not know of the draft act, which is popularly referred to as the Swiss franc act. Prof. Marcin Dziurda, a member of the Civil Law Codification Commission, revealed in an interview with “Rzeczpospolita” several provisions that are intended to streamline franc disputes. He assured that the act does not interfere in the relationship between the bank and the franc borrower, but only concerns procedural issues.
On Wednesday, we informed that the Ministry of Justice has prepared a draft law that is intended to improve the resolution of conflicts between Swiss franc borrowers and banks. We don’t know the whole project yet, but Rzeczpospolita asked about the most important provisions of Prof. Marcin Dziurda, member of the Civil Law Codification Commission.
He explained that the project was prepared based on the demands of the judges, who constituted the majority of the problem team that developed the proposals in question.
He assured that the designed solutions do not interfere with settlements between the borrower and the lender. However, they are to introduce procedural instruments to accelerate the examination of Swiss franc cases, which, after numerous judgments of the CJEU, are resolved in accordance with the established jurisprudence. In other categories of cases – in which a uniform line of case law has not yet been established, so the introduction of such specific regulations would be unjustified.
Franc Act: proposed acceleration of the procedure
The draft Act on special solutions for the examination of cases relating to credit agreements concluded with consumers denominated or indexed to the Swiss franc and on amending certain acts provides for the following methods of accelerating the examination of Swiss franc cases:
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extending the possibility of adjudicating in closed session in both the first and second instances (regardless of the value of the subject matter of the complaint)
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possibility of hearing a witness remotely despite the party’s objection,
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possibility of receiving written testimony from witnesses and parties.
Late adjustment
Attorney Mikołaj Rusiński, whom “Rz” asked for a comment, is of the opinion that the direction of changes revealed so far (because we still do not know the entire project) arouses mixed emotions. First of all, the project is late.
– Looking at the statistical data, the peak of the wave of Swiss franc lawsuits is already behind us. The time for ad hoc solutions was 2020-2022. Currently, we should focus on serious and long-term reforms that will speed up the work of courts in all civil cases, not only Swiss franc trials, he said.
He pointed out that some solutions already exist – for example, interviewing witnesses in writing.
– However, I positively assess the proposal to introduce the institution of security along with the delivery of the lawsuit, because this particular issue still raises many problems. Several courts in the country still do not accept the request to suspend the payment of loan installments, which results in the need to file a complaint to a higher court – said lawyer Mikołaj Rusiński.
