This solution was adopted by the Act of 19 June 2020 on subsidies for interest on bank loans granted to entrepreneurs affected by COVID-19 and on simplified proceedings for the approval of arrangements in connection with COVID-19, the so-called Anti-Crisis Shield 4.0 (hereinafter: ‘Shield 4.0’), which came into force on 24 June this year. Importantly, each entrepreneur may only use the simplified procedure for approval of an arrangement once, and it will be available only for the next year, i.e. until 30 June 2021 (Article 15 of Shield 4.0).

In order to initiate the proceedings, an agreement must be concluded with a restructuring adviser to supervise the proceedings. The proceedings are opened out of court, on the date of publication of an announcement in Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy (Court and Economic Monitor), in which the entrepreneur declares that they have concluded an agreement with a restructuring adviser and that simplified proceedings for the approval of an arrangement will be conducted in relation to them.

The most important effect of the publication of the announcement from the entrepreneur’s perspective is the suspension of pending enforcement proceedings and the inability to initiate new enforcement proceedings against the debtor’s assets.

In practice, this means that the legislator has significantly facilitated and, in fact, introduced enforcement protection to out-of-court proceedings for the approval of an arrangement. Using the new simplified proceedings for the approval of an arrangement from the date of publication of the announcement of the opening of proceedings in the Court and Economic Monitor until the date of discontinuation or termination of the proceedings for the approval of the arrangement:

1. enforcement proceedings concerning claims covered by the arrangement by operation of law and concerning claims secured by the debtor’s assets (mortgage, pledge, etc.), in which the arrangement proposals provide for the satisfaction of the secured creditor together with incidental claims, initiated before the date of opening of the proceedings, are suspended by operation of law;
2. it is not possible to initiate new enforcement proceedings – the initiation of enforcement proceedings and the enforcement of a decision to secure a claim or an order to secure a claim arising from a claim covered by the arrangement by operation of law and a claim secured by collateral, which the arrangement proposals provide for satisfaction together with incidental claims, is inadmissible;
3. the provisions of Article 252 (inadmissibility of payments from claims covered by the arrangement), Article 253 (inadmissibility of mutual set-offs) and Article 256 (inadmissibility of termination of lease or tenancy) of the Act of 15 May 2015 – Restructuring Law shall apply accordingly; the permits referred to in Article 256(1) of the Act of 15 May 2015 – Restructuring Law shall be issued by the arrangement supervisor.

This procedure, and thus enforcement protection, should last four months from the date of publication of the announcement in Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy (Court and Economic Monitor). During this time, a creditors’ meeting should be held and, in the optimal scenario for all parties, an arrangement should be concluded. Another simplification is the possibility of voting at the creditors’ meeting using electronic means of communication. The minutes of such a creditors’ meeting in the form of, for example, a videoconference must contain a record of the meeting on an electronic data carrier. This is therefore a very significant technical, organisational and even economic simplification. Creditors do not bear the costs of travelling to the creditors’ meeting.

The supervisor confirms the acceptance of the arrangement and prepares a motion to the restructuring court for approval of the accepted arrangement. If, within 4 months of the date of the announcement, no motion for approval of the arrangement is filed with the court, the proceedings are discontinued by operation of law. It should be emphasised that if no arrangement is concluded, the debtor still has the right to use other restructuring proceedings. Moreover, if an arrangement is concluded and the proceedings are discontinued after the submission of a request for approval of the arrangement, the debtor has the option of submitting a simplified request for the opening of rehabilitation proceedings or a simplified request for the declaration of bankruptcy.

In addition, the legislator has provided financial security for the entrepreneur by setting limits on the remuneration of the restructuring adviser in the event of a final refusal to approve the arrangement or discontinuation of the proceedings. The remuneration of the arrangement supervisor provided for in the agreement may not exceed twice the average monthly remuneration in the enterprise sector without profit-sharing payments in the third quarter of the previous year, as announced by the President of the Central Statistical Office.

In conclusion, the most advantageous solutions of the proposed simplified arrangement approval procedure include:

• suspension of existing enforcement proceedings without the involvement of the court, only after concluding an agreement with a restructuring adviser and publishing a notice in the MSiG;
• no possibility of initiating new enforcement proceedings;
• speed of opening proceedings (a few days);
• possibility of holding a creditors’ meeting using electronic means of communication;
• low costs of proceedings.