Parliament yesterday adopted changes to the law on obligations and the law on enforcement of court decisions, that will close a loophole used by enforcement agents.

Under the law, debts owed under an effective court order expire in 10 years. Because of this, it became customary that enforcement agents wait until the court decision enters its tenth year and begin the process of collection just a few months before the debt expires – which would maximize the collection of interest.

Under the changes, such debts expire after five years. This would prevent cases where the interest collected on the debt by the enforcement agents surpasses the debt itself.