A Czech payment order and a debtor who does not collect post: data mailboxes, cancellation of the order and what comes next

A Slovak company holds an undisputed invoice against a Czech customer and opts for a Czech payment order (platební rozkaz). The court issues it without a hearing and orders the customer to pay within 15 days of service or to file an objection within the same period (Section 172(1) of the Czech Code of Civil Procedure). The speed of this instrument, however, depends on service. Until the order is served on the debtor, the objection period does not start running and the order does not become an enforcement title. Debtors who know this therefore simply do not collect post from the court. With Czech companies this generally does not help them; with other addressees it does.

Personal service, with no substituted service

Court documents for personal service are in Czechia generally treated as served even where the addressee does not collect them. If the addressee does not collect a consignment deposited at the post office within ten days, it is deemed served on the last day of that period, even if the addressee did not learn of the deposit (Section 49(4)). For a payment order the statute switches this mechanism off. The order must be served on the defendant personally and substituted service is excluded (Section 173(1)). If the order cannot be served on even one of several defendants, the court cancels it in full by resolution (Section 173(2)). The same rules apply to an electronic payment order, to which the provisions on payment orders apply mutatis mutandis (Section 174a(3)).

The reason is plain: the order arises without hearing the defendant, and the defendant’s only defence is an objection. The statute therefore requires that the defendant genuinely learn of the order, not merely formally.

A data mailbox breaks through that protection

The exception appears in the same sentence of Section 173(1): the prohibition of substituted service does not apply where service is made to a data mailbox. The court serves documents to a data mailbox as a matter of priority unless it hands the document over directly at a hearing (Section 45(2)). A document delivered into a mailbox is served at the moment an authorised person logs into it. If nobody logs in within ten days of delivery, it is deemed served on the last day of that period (Section 17(3) and (4) of Act No. 300/2008 Coll.) and has the same effects as personal service (Section 17(6)).

For a Slovak creditor it matters who receives a mailbox automatically. A legal person entered in the register of persons has one established by the state free of charge and without application (Section 5(1)), and a self-employed natural person after registration in the relevant records (Section 4(1)). A Czech limited company or a sole trader therefore cannot stop a payment order by not collecting it; after ten days it is served and the objection period starts running. The addressee may, on the conditions laid down in a special statute, apply for a declaration that such service was ineffective (Section 17(5)).

The position differs for a natural person who is not in business and has no data mailbox established and made available. There, personal collection decides: an uncollected consignment is returned to the court after ten days (Section 49(5)) and if the order cannot be served in any other way either, the court cancels it.

When the court does not issue the order at all

A payment order cannot be issued if the defendant’s whereabouts are unknown or if it would have to be served on the defendant abroad (Section 172(2)). The court then lists the case for a hearing (Section 172(3)). If the Czech customer moved its seat to Slovakia or elsewhere abroad shortly before proceedings began, the Czech national order ceases to be usable and other routes must be considered. When a European payment order makes sense and when proceedings in the debtor’s state do, is compared in our article on a Slovak, Czech or European payment order.

What follows cancellation of the order

Cancelling a payment order because it cannot be served does not lose the claim. The statute cancels only the order, not the proceedings, so the application remains filed and the court continues to deal with it under the general rules, usually after listing a hearing. That means more time, so service is worth thinking through in advance. If the defendant does file an objection, the case likewise moves into contentious proceedings; how the court then uses a qualified invitation and judgment by admission is explained in our answer on an unreasoned objection to a Czech payment order.

What to verify before filing

• The seat according to the commercial register. Check the current seat and the history of entries; if the seat has changed recently, state the current one in the application.
• The debtor’s data mailbox. With a company and a sole trader a mailbox is almost certain; with a natural person personal service must be expected.
• Residence abroad. If the debtor is seated or resident outside Czechia, a national payment order will not help.
• The pre-action demand. Costs in Czech proceedings depend on a demand sent at least seven days before filing; we examine the rule in Section 142a of the Code of Civil Procedure in our article on a Czech company and a Slovak debtor, which compares the two regimes.

We prepare the application for a payment order so that service is effected where it has effect, and we conduct the proceedings after an objection or after cancellation of the order before the Czech court directly, under our payment order and action for payment (Czech Republic) service. If it is first necessary to establish whether the customer has the means to pay, or to continue with enforcement in Czechia, we follow on within debt recovery in Czechia. The documents can simply be sent to us by email in Slovak.