Article 1. Amendment of Article 5

1. Article 5(9) shall be amended as follows:

‘9. Subject to a decision to decline to open personal bankruptcy proceedings, a court shall, no later than on a working day following the effect day of the decision, send a certified copy of the decision to bailiffs who have been provided with writs of execution for the purpose of debt recovery from a natural person or seizure of his assets, also to credit institutions with which the natural person has accounts. Realisation and/or recovery of assets, including extrajudicial recovery, shall be resumed, except for the cases where the decision to decline to open personal bankruptcy proceedings was adopted on the ground specified in point 6 of paragraph 8 of this Article, and the interim measures applied from the admission of a personal bankruptcy petition to declining to open personal bankruptcy proceedings shall be cancelled.’

2. Article 5 shall be supplemented with paragraph 10 as follows:

‘10. A court, having adopted a decision to decline to open personal bankruptcy proceedings on the ground referred to in point 6 of paragraph 8 of this Article, shall, not later than on a working day following the effect date of the decision, forward all documents related to a petition to open personal bankruptcy proceedings to a court hearing the bankruptcy case of a legal person of unlimited civil liability whereof the natural person is a member, which shall decide on realisation and/or recovery of the assets of the natural person, including extrajudicial recovery, and on resumption of interim measures.’

Article 2. Amendment of Article 6

Article 6(4)(1) shall be repealed.

Article 3. Amendment of Article 7

Article 7(1)(7) shall be amended as follows:

‘7) the amounts of bankruptcy administrative expenses according to the structure of administrative expenses as referred to in Article 22(1) of this Law and substantiation thereof;’.

Article 4. Amendment of Article 8

1. Article 8(2)(1) shall be amended as follows:

‘1) no later than within five days of the receipt of the draft plan, draw up and submit to the natural person a reasoned written conclusion on the feasibility of the draft plan (hereinafter: the ‘conclusion’). This conclusion must indicate whether the natural person’s assets and professional qualifications, the pursuit of individual activity or farmer activities (where such activities are provided for) and other factual circumstances relevant to the implementation of the plan allow to expect that the funds provided for in the draft plan will be available in order to effect the payments provided for in the draft plan; whether the natural person intends to make use of the full extent of the possibilities available to him to obtain the funds needed to satisfy creditors’ claims and to cover administrative expenses, as well as any other circumstances which the administrator deems it appropriate to indicate. In his conclusion, the administrator must assess the justification of the amount of administrative expenses;’.

2. Article 8(3) shall be amended as follows:

‘3. The meeting of creditors shall vote on the approval of the draft plan in classes of creditors. One class shall consist of pledgees and mortgage creditors and the other class shall consist of other creditors. A decision to approve the draft plan shall be deemed to have been adopted when, in each class of creditors, the draft plan is approved by creditors the amount of whose claims exceeds, in terms of value, 1/2 of the amount of the claims, as approved by a court, of the creditors in the class. If the votes in favour of the draft plan are equally divided within a class of creditors, the draft plan shall be deemed not to have been approved. If the meeting of creditors disapproves of the draft plan on the grounds of its non-conformity to the requirements set forth in Article 7 of this Law and/or approves of the administrator's conclusion that there are no possibilities to implement the plan and/or the amount of administrative expenses according to the administrative expenses structure specified in Article 22(1) of this Law is unreasonably high or unreasonably low, the draft plan may be revised and resubmitted to the meeting of creditors no later than within two months from the adoption of the creditors’ decision not to approve the draft plan. If the meeting of creditors disapproves the draft plan without indicating any reason or on the grounds that are not related to the revision of the draft plan according to the requirements of Article 7 of this Law and this Article, and this the draft plan shall be submitted to a court in accordance with paragraphs 4 and 5 of this Article. Where the draft plan is revised, except as provided for in paragraph 6 of this Article, the bankruptcy administrator shall have the right to submit a new conclusion within two working days of the receipt of the revised draft plan.’

Article 5. Amendment of Article 14

Article 14(7)(3) shall be repealed.

Article 6. Amendment of Article 21

Article 21 shall be amended as follows:

‘Article 21. Regulation of labour relations

During the personal bankruptcy process, the provisions of the Law on Insolvency of Legal Persons shall apply mutatis mutandis, as regards:

1) labour relations during the process of bankruptcy of legal persons, where individual activity and/or farmer activities, as pursued by a natural person, are terminated;

2) labour relations during the process of restructuring of legal persons, where individual activity and/or farmer activities, as pursued by a natural person, are continued.’

Article 7. Amendment of Article 23

Article 23(6) shall be amended as follows:

‘6. A court shall issue a ruling to approve or decline to approve creditors’ claims no later than within 20 days of the receipt of a list of creditors and their claims. A court ruling on the approval of creditors’ claims must specify claims of employees relating to employment relationships in accordance with the Law on Guarantees for Employees in the Event of the Insolvency of Their Employer and Long-term Employee Benefits. A court ruling to approve or to decline to approve creditors’ claims may be appealed against by filing a separate appeal in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts. A separate appeal must be heard by a court no later than within 30 days of its receipt by a court of appeals.’

Article 8. Amendment of Article 25

1. Article 25(2) shall be amended as follows:

‘2. Upon the effect of a court decision approving the plan, meetings of creditors shall be convened at least on a semi-annual basis. Meetings of creditors shall be convened by a bankruptcy administrator. The bankruptcy administrator must give creditors a written notice of a meeting of creditors to be convened no later than ten days before the date of the meeting, together with the proposed agenda for the meeting of creditors.’

2. Article 25 shall be supplemented with paragraph 3 as follows:

‘3. A notice of the convening of a first meeting of creditors must be submitted to creditors against signature by registered postal item, through bailiffs, courier service providers or by means of electronic communications, provided that the security of transmitted information is ensured and the identity of the person who sends the notice and the person who receives it can be established. Where the notice of the convening of the first meeting of creditors has been submitted by means of electronic communications, an acknowledgement of receipt of the notice must be obtained. A notice of the convening of other meetings of creditors shall be published in an information system managed by an institution authorised by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania as referred to in Article 13(9) of this Law (hereinafter: the ‘information system’).’

3. Former paragraphs 3-11 of Article 25 shall be accordingly considered to be paragraphs 4-12.

Article 9. Amendment of Article 29

1. Article 29(7) shall be amended as follows:

‘7. Unsatisfied creditors’ claims, including those secured by pledge and/or mortgage, remaining in the plan upon the closing of the personal bankruptcy process, except for the case referred to in Article 30(3)(2) of this Law, shall be written off, except for the claims for compensation for the damage caused by a criminal act, funds for the maintenance of a child/adopted child and claims arising from a natural person’s obligation to pay to the State the fines imposed for administrative offences or for criminal acts, infringements of other laws, pledge- and/mortgage secured creditors’ claims, where these creditors and the natural person have agreed on the retention of the pledged assets during the personal bankruptcy process, unless otherwise agreed in a agreement referred to in Article 4(4)(10) of this Law.’

2. Article 29(10) shall be amended as follows:

‘10. Claims of entities engaged in agricultural activities shall be satisfied in accordance with the procedure laid down in Commission Regulation (EU) No 1408/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid in the agriculture sector (with all amendments) and by the Government. In this case, the claims approved by an entity engaged in agricultural activities shall be reduced by the amount paid in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Government.’

Article 10. Amendment of Article 30

Article 30 shall be supplemented with paragraph 7 as follows:

‘7. Upon the closing of the personal bankruptcy process, a natural person may not be subject to prohibitions to engage in individual activity, farmer activities or other activities, prohibitions to access instruments of state-provided aid for businesses or restrictions on other rights based solely on the fact that bankruptcy proceedings have been opened against him.’

Article 11. Amendment of Article 31

Article 31 shall be amended as follows:

‘Article 31. Provision and publication of data on the personal bankruptcy process

1. A court and a bankruptcy administrator shall provide data on the personal bankruptcy process to an institution authorised by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and indicated in Article 13(9) of this Law mutatis mutandis in accordance with the procedure established in Article 33 of the Law on Insolvency of Legal Persons.

2. An institution authorised by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and indicated in Article 13(9) of this Law shall, according to the procedure established by legal acts, submit information contained in reports defined in Article 12(1)(5) and Article 12(2)(7) of this Law to the Lithuanian Department of Statistics and collect information about personal bankruptcy processes within its own information system. The following data shall be published on the website of the institution authorised by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and indicated in Article 13(9) of this Law with a view to ensuring the protection of the parties interested in the personal bankruptcy process:

1) name and surname, date and place of birth of a natural person against whom bankruptcy proceedings have been opened;

2) name of the court hearing the personal bankruptcy proceedings, number of the personal bankruptcy case, date of issue of a court ruling to open personal bankruptcy proceedings and time limit for appealing against it, date of the effect of this ruling, date of the effect of a court ruling to approve the plan, whether the right to open proceedings is based on Article 3(1), (2) or (4) of Regulation (EU) 2015/848, time limit for filing creditors’ claims as set by the court;

3) office address, name and contact details of a bankruptcy administrator, in the case of a natural person, and registered address, name of a legal person, name of the manager and contact details, in the case of a legal person or a division/branch of a legal person;

4) date of discontinuing of the personal bankruptcy process (effect day of a court decision to discontinue personal bankruptcy proceedings);

5) date of closing of the personal bankruptcy process (effect day of a court decision to close personal bankruptcy proceedings);

6) court decisions and rulings effective in the personal bankruptcy proceedings.

3. In order to ensure the transparency of the personal bankruptcy process and to facilitate for participants in the process (a natural person, creditors, a bankruptcy administrator, and other persons involved in the proceedings) the protection of their interests, an institution authorised by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and indicated in Article 13(9) of this Law shall grant to a court and the persons entitled to participate in meetings of creditors the right of access to the following information within their own information system in accordance with the procedure established by themselves, without prejudice to requirements of the protection of personal data and the protection of a commercial/industrial secrets:

1) notices of the convening of meetings of creditors;

2) decisions of meetings of creditors;

3) a conclusion on a draft plan and the plan;

4) information on assets of the natural person according to points 3 and 4 of Article 4(4) of this Law;

5) an estimate of bankruptcy administrative expenses;

6) information on the creditors (the name and surname, if the creditor is a natural person, or the name and registration number, if the creditor is a legal person), the amount and satisfaction of their claims according to the ranking of creditors’ claims and stages of their satisfaction;

7) a report on the progress of implementation of the plan;

8) court decisions and rulings adopted in the personal bankruptcy proceedings.

4. Information referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article shall be considered to be known to the persons having the right to access this information, as indicated to in that paragraph, from the provision of this information in the information system.

5. Information referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article shall be made publicly available for ten years following the date of discontinuing or closing of the personal bankruptcy process.’

Article 12. Amendment of the Annex to the Law

The Annex to the Law shall be amended as follows:

‘Annex to the Republic of Lithuania

Law on Personal Bankruptcy

LEGAL ACTS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION IMPLEMENTED BY THIS LAW

1. Regulation (EU) 2015/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on insolvency proceedings.

2. Directive (EU) 2019/1023 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on preventive restructuring frameworks, on discharge of debt and disqualifications, and on measures to increase the efficiency of procedures concerning restructuring, insolvency and discharge of debt, and amending Directive (EU) 2017/1132 (Directive on restructuring and insolvency).’

Article 13. Entry into force, implementation and application of the Law

1. This Law, except for Articles 2, 5, and 8, Article 9(1) and Article 11 of this Law and paragraph 3 of this Article, shall enter into force on 15 July 2021.

2. Articles 2, 5, 8 and 11 of this Law shall enter into force on 1 January 2023.

3. The Government of the Republic of Lithuania and/or institutions authorised by it shall adopt, by 14 July 2021, legal acts implementing this Law.

4. This Law, except for Article 1 and Article 9(1) of this Law, shall apply to personal bankruptcy proceedings opened after 14 July 2021.

5. Article 29(7) of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Personal Bankruptcy, as stipulated in Article 9(1) of this Law, shall also apply to the personal bankruptcy procedures commenced and not completed before the entry into force of this Law.

I promulgate this Law passed by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.

President of the Republic Gitanas Nausėda