September 15 (SeeNews) - Croatia's government has drafted legislative amendments regulating the business of debt collection agencies, aiming to ensure improved protection of debtors while securing the payment of receivables, a government official said.
The proposed legislative amendments regulate the ways, conditions and procedures to service and buy debt, Davor Zoricic, state secretary at the finance ministry, said during a cabinet session on Thursday, as seen in a video published on the government's website.
The changes introduce obligation of debt collection agencies to offer debtors facing difficulties in repaying their debts various measures that would ease the repayment process while providing improved protection of debtors before and after the purchase of debts.
The changes also introduce supervision of debt collection agencies, with the central bank overseeing the collection of receivables owed to commercial banks, while the finance ministry's inspectorate will be in charge of supervision of collection of debt owed to all other creditors.
An obligation for licensing will be introduced for providers of loan servicing services because they are the ones that communicate with the debtors, Zoricic said, adding that rules for communication with debtors are also part of the proposed draft laws which have been submitted to parliament for approval.