The Court of Trieste has once again allowed the creditor to safeguard his claim by attaching the foreign debtor’s assets, without having previously heard the latter.
In the specific case, a freight forwarder had a claim for customs operations against a non-EU company. The choice to resort to an attachment was determined by two circumstances. Firstly, the only assets of the debtor that could be seized were the vehicles that passed through Italy. Secondly, the time required to obtain proof of the service of the order for payment abroad is such as to frustrate the effective protection of the creditor’s rights.
Therefore, an attachment was the only effective measure, as recognized by the Court of Trieste.
And in fact, the enforcement of the protective measure does not require the prior knowledge of the attachment order by the debtor.
(Federica Fantuzzi – federica.fantuzzi@studiozunarelli.com)
