This is to alert you to new legislation published on 15 May 2020, amending certain acts providing for cushioning measures in connection with the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (“Anti-Crisis Shield 3.0”). The new law repeals earlier regulations which withheld or suspended the running of various legally relevant periods.

Anti-Crisis Shield 1.0 (Article 15zzs) generally provided that court or litigation deadlines (collectively, “judicial deadlines”) will not begin to run or will be suspended if already pending.

Anti-Crisis Shield 3.0 (Article 68) revives those deadlines 7 days after its effective date, i.e. as of 23 May 2020.

As of that date:

  • any judicial deadlines that have not started yet (were withheld) will start,
  • any judicial deadlines that have been suspended will continue.

Adverse consequences may arise if judicial deadlines are not kept, therefore companies are advised to carefully check the end dates of any relevant periods that may affect them.

Note that, unfortunately, Anti-Crisis Shield 3.0 regulations have not resolved doubts, which arose under imprecise Anti-Crisis Shield 1.0 legislation, as to the start date when judicial deadlines should be considered to be suspended or withheld. Specifically, the controversy was whether the deadlines were suspended or withheld:

  • as of 14 March 2020, being the date on which the state of epidemic emergency was announced, or
  • as of 31 March 2020, being the effective date of Anti-Crisis Shield 1.0 regulations.

With legal scholars, courts and legal practitioners differing on which of the dates should properly be the start date, we recommend remaining on the safe side because a failure to keep a judicial deadline has very serious consequences.

In tax matters, being on the safe side as regards judicial deadlines generally assumes that 31 March 2020 was the start date for their suspension or withholding.

If these issues pertain to your business and you are interested in our assistance, please contact us.

This blog post is provided for general information purposes to keep you up-to-date with changes in tax law, tax rulings by authorities, case law of courts and interesting commentaries. Doradztwo Podatkowe WTS&SAJA shall not be held legally liable for any acts or omissions resulting from reliance on such information.