then puts the onus on the collecting party to have the objection set aside. This involves a court assessing whether the debt is owed and due, and only at this stage does a judge become involved. Successful proceedings will entitle the creditor to continue with the debt recovery, which will then take the form of a seizure of assets in the case of a natural person or the threat of bankruptcy in case of a legal entity. The same applies if the debtor does not object to the payment summons and the 20-day grace period has lapsed. In instances where the owing party is not locally resident but assets have been located in Switzerland, the creditor has the option of attaching those assets if an attachment reason is given. The foremost attachment reason in international contexts is where a creditor has a foreign judgement against the debtor. In such instances, the creditor may, for instance, have an account attached based on the foreign judgment. The debt enforcement office will then set short deadlines for the creditor to pursue its claim by means of debt enforcement (as described above, with the difference that the debtor must be served abroad based on the requisite international treaties, which may prove time-consuming and cumbersome). What key laws, statutes and regulations apply to this process in your jurisdiction? Debt enforcement is governed by the Federal Act on Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy (DEBA). International treaties such as the Lugano Convention or the New York Convention may come into play, THOUGHT LEADER 61 The fact that a debtor organisation is particularly large does not in itself constitute a significant complexity.
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