During the past five weeks of quarantine, the possibilities of actual debt recovery in Lithuania have decreased by half. Judging by the statistics of judicial officers, approximately 4.3 million euros of debts will not be paid to creditors in April, i.e. the amount of returned debts will be 4.3 million euros less than the usual amount repaid within a month prior to the declaration of an emergency. In March, the amount of actually recovered debts decreased by about 15 percent which is approximately 645 thousand euros.
Despite the quarantine restrictions, the 20th meeting of Lithuanian judicial officers took place. The members of the association could not meet in one hall, but all important issues were resolved by electronic voting on April 17.
After transitioning to working remotely as of March 16, judicial officers are continuing to provide most of their regular services to creditors and debtors during the quarantine period. They are aware of the fact that this temporary emergency and quarantine do not eliminate their professional duty to perform functions assigned by the state and help parties to civil proceedings ensure their interests.
Compared to the former judicial officers' system, the advantage of judicial officers' system of the liberal Moldova reformed in 2010 is already beyond doubt. The challenge today is to form clear criteria for measuring the efficiency of activities of private judicial officers and continue the modernisation of debt recovery procedures.