What information is available in Estonia on insolvency?
Estonia does not have a separate insolvency register, but information on bankruptcy proceedings and debt adjustment proceedings of legal entities and natural persons is available in the official electronic publication Ametlikud Teadaanded. In addition, the Estonian commercial register and the register of non-profit associations and foundations contain information on the bankruptcy of legal entities and self-employed persons.
The following are examples of what is entered in Ametlikud Teadaanded by the courts and trustees in bankruptcy:
- the time and place of reviewing a bankruptcy petition, and a notice communicating the prohibition on disposal of assets;
- a notice concerning a declaration of bankruptcy;
- a notice concerning a general meeting of creditors;
- a notice concerning approval of a preliminary distribution proposal;
- a notice concerning closure of bankruptcy proceedings;
- a notice concerning approval of a debt adjustment plan.
A full list of the announcements to be published can be found on the Ametlikud Teadaanded website.
The following are entered in the Estonian Commercial Register and the register of non-profit associations and foundations on the basis of a court judgment:
- discontinuation of bankruptcy proceedings without declaring bankruptcy;
- the declaration of bankruptcy together with the name and personal identification code of the trustee in bankruptcy, as well as a note stating that he or she is representing the company;
- discontinuation of a declaration of bankruptcy together with an entry showing continued activity by the company;
- discontinuation of a declaration of bankruptcy and deletion of the company from the register;
- termination of bankruptcy proceedings and the deletion of the company from the register or continuation of the company’s activities;
- a compromise and the term for this, with an entry showing continued activity;
- cancellation of a compromise and re-opening of the proceedings to declare bankruptcy, with a note that the company is represented by a trustee in bankruptcy;
- end of the compromise when it has expired, and discharge of the trustee in bankruptcy;
- appointment of a cover pool administrator in accordance with the Covered Bonds Act, together with their name and personal identification code, and a note that they represent the credit institution as regards management and disposal of the covered bond portfolio.
Details of trade bans imposed on a debtor or the person with power to represent them or prohibitions on the pursuit of commercial activities imposed on that person are not entered in the register.
The Estonian Commercial Register contains the following information on bankrupt legal entities:
- name of the legal entity;
- registry code;
- address;
- details of the trustee in bankruptcy;
- details of the members of the management board;
- details of the cover pool administrator;
- date of the bankruptcy order/ruling and the number of the order or civil case.
Is access to information regarding insolvency free of charge?
Registry data can be accessed online and at notaries’ offices.
Access to Ametlikud Teadaanded is free of charge.
No fee is charged online for searches concerning legal entities, self-employed persons and branches of foreign companies, for information about court proceedings or for access to registry card data. However, a fee is charged for all other searches, including historical registry card data and access to annual reports, articles of association and other documents. The rates charged for using the computer data in the commercial register are laid down in a Regulation of the Minister for Justice.
A fee is charged for consulting registry data and file documents at a notary’s office. The fees are set out in the Notary Fees Act.
Details of trade bans are published and can be accessed free of charge online.
How to search for information on insolvency
You can search in Ametlikud Teadaanded for information concerning the insolvency of a legal entity or natural person by name or personal identification code/registry code, and on the general search page you can also search by keyword. Using the search function, all published announcements concerning ongoing insolvency proceedings can be found easily. When the proceedings come to an end, the announcements are archived, with the exception of announcements concerning the termination of proceedings, which remain public for three years.
You can search for a legal entity or self-employed person in the e-commercial register by business name, name or registry code. The status of a legal entity or self-employed person indicates whether or not that person or entity is bankrupt.
Since autumn 2019, Ametlikud Teadaanded has been included in the interconnected insolvency registers search interface of the e-Justice portal, enabling companies, lenders and investors wishing to invest in other Member States to carry out background checks directly in the insolvency register of another country. As a result of the multilingual solution that has been put in place, the process of acquiring insolvency information across borders is more transparent and the information itself is easier to access. The information is available free of charge. The portal has a basic search function, which enables searches to be made in all the interconnected registers by debtor name, and also advanced search functionality, where the search criteria depend on which country’s register is being searched in. For Estonia, it is possible to search by debtor name and by personal identification code/registry code.
History of the insolvency information service
The Estonian insolvency service has been available since 1 September 1995.
