Case C-723/23, Amilla: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 10 April 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Juzgado de lo Mercantil No 3 de Oviedo, con sede en Gijón – Spain) – Agencia Estatal de la Administración Tributaria v VT, UP (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Judicial cooperation in civil matters – Directive (EU) 2019/1023 – Procedures concerning restructuring, insolvency and discharge of debt – Article 20 – Access to discharge – Article 23(1) and (2) – Derogations – Natural person who has become insolvent – Conditions for access to discharge of debt – Concept of dishonest or bad faith conduct – Conduct towards creditors of a third party)
Date: 2025-04-10
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: civil bankruptcy, debt, financial solvency








C_202502829EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/2829


2.6.2025






Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 10 April 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Juzgado de lo Mercantil No 3 de Oviedo, con sede en Gijón – Spain) – Agencia Estatal de la Administración Tributaria v VT, UP


(Case C-723/23,
                (1)
Amilla
                (2)
)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Judicial cooperation in civil matters - Directive (EU) 2019/1023 - Procedures concerning restructuring, insolvency and discharge of debt - Article 20 - Access to discharge - Article 23(1) and (2) - Derogations - Natural person who has become insolvent - Conditions for access to discharge of debt - Concept of ‘dishonest or bad faith’ conduct - Conduct towards creditors of a third party)
(C/2025/2829)
Language of the case: Spanish

Referring court

Juzgado de lo Mercantil No 3 de Oviedo, con sede en Gijón

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Agencia Estatal de la Administración Tributaria

Defendants: VT, UP

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Article 23(1) of Directive (EU) 2019/1023 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on preventive restructuring frameworks, on discharge of debt and disqualifications, and on measures to increase the efficiency of procedures concerning restructuring, insolvency and discharge of debt, and amending Directive (EU) 2017/1132 (Directive on restructuring and insolvency),
must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which excludes access to discharge of debt where the debtor has acted dishonestly or in bad faith towards the creditors of a third party and has been declared a ‘person concerned’ in the context of a judicial declaration of the fault-based insolvency of that third party.










2.


Article 23(2) of Directive 2019/1023
must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which sets out a derogation from the principle of access to a procedure that can lead to a discharge of debt which is not provided for in that provision and which excludes such access where, during the 10 years preceding the application for discharge, the debtor has been declared a ‘person concerned’ in a judgment classifying the insolvency of a third party as ‘fault-based’, unless, on the date on which that application is made, that debtor has paid all the debts for which he or she is liable, without the national courts being required to assess subjectively whether that debtor acted dishonestly or in bad faith, provided that such an exclusion is duly justified under national law.






(1)  OJ C C/2024/2585.

(2)  The name of the present case is a fictitious name. It does not correspond to the real name of any party to the proceedings.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/2829/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)