The goods were delivered. The invoice fell due months ago. The emails have gone from polite to formal to unanswered, and you are now weighing whether a Czech debt is worth chasing from abroad at all.
It usually is. What matters is picking the right route at the start, because the wrong one costs a year.
First establish what you actually hold
Before anything else, three questions decide your position. Do you have a written contract or only an order and a delivery note? Did the debtor ever acknowledge the debt in writing, even informally in an email? And is the debtor still trading, or already in insolvency?
The third question overrides the others. Once insolvency proceedings begin, individual enforcement stops and you are reduced to filing a claim in the insolvency register within the set period. Missing that window is the most common way foreign creditors lose recoverable money — not because the claim was bad, but because nobody was watching the register.
The routes available, in order of speed
A Czech electronic payment order (elektronický platební rozkaz) is the standard route for an uncontested money claim. It is decided without a hearing on the documents. If the debtor does not object within the statutory period, it becomes enforceable. If the debtor does object, it falls away and the case proceeds as ordinary litigation — which is why an order is excellent against a debtor who is simply not paying, and of limited use against one who genuinely disputes the invoice.
The European Order for Payment under Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006 is the cross-border equivalent and is designed precisely for your situation. It moves between Member States without a separate declaration of enforceability.
Ordinary proceedings are the route where the debt is disputed on substance — defective goods, a set-off, a disputed variation. Here the file matters more than the forum, and a well-kept delivery and complaint record is usually decisive.
Judgment is not payment
A title you cannot enforce is an expensive piece of paper. Before starting, it is worth establishing whether the debtor owns real property, holds bank accounts, or has any traceable business assets. In Czech practice enforcement runs through a bailiff (soudní exekutor), and the outcome depends far more on what the debtor owns than on how strong the judgment reads.
Where the debtor is a company that has quietly stopped trading, the useful question is often not enforcement at all but whether the statutory body is personally exposed — and that is a different claim, on a different basis, with a different limitation period.
Limitation is the trap
Czech limitation periods are shorter than many foreign creditors assume, and they run while you are still exchanging conciliatory emails. A written acknowledgement of the debt by the debtor restarts the clock and is worth far more than another reminder letter. If you have one, say so at the first consultation; if you do not, obtaining one may be the single most valuable thing achieved before proceedings begin.
How we work on these files
- We assess the documentation and tell you whether the claim is worth pursuing before you spend on it
- We check the insolvency register and the debtor’s corporate position at the outset, not after filing
- We select the route — payment order, European order, or ordinary proceedings — on the facts, not by default
- We conduct pre-action correspondence in a way that either produces payment or produces an acknowledgement
- We instruct and supervise enforcement, and report on what is realistically recoverable
Frequently asked questions
Can I sue in my own country instead?
Sometimes, depending on the contract and the jurisdiction rules that apply. But a judgment obtained at home still has to be enforced where the debtor’s assets are, so the practical question is usually not where you can sue but where the money is.
The debtor says the goods were defective. Does that end it?
No. It changes the route. A defence of defective performance has to be raised properly and substantiated; an assertion in an email is not a defence. What matters then is your delivery and complaint documentation.
Is a small claim worth pursuing?
We will tell you at the outset. Where costs would consume the claim, we say so rather than running up fees on a file that cannot pay for itself.
Get in touch
Send us the contract or order, the invoice, proof of delivery and the correspondence to date. You will get an assessment of the claim, the realistic route, and what recovery is likely to cost.
Debt recovery and receivables management
More on our practice: Czech law for English-speaking clients