Bounced cheques in Cyprus

Charles Charalambous wrote a long article in the Cyprus Mail.  Here is a popular snippet about a black list of those who bounce cheques in Cyprus.  Beware.

A RECORD number of cheques totalling €2.1 million bounced in January and February, the Central Information Registry (CIR) has revealed.

The value of the dishonoured cheques for the first two months of 2009 already represents 37 per cent of the total for the whole of 2008, which was €5.6 million. The number of dishonoured cheques registered with the CIR in the first two months of this year represents 27 per cent of last year’s total.

What is the the Central Information Registry (CIR) ?

Getting on the Register, popularly known as the “black-list”, is relatively easy. A person – the legal term for an actual person or a company – is recorded in the Registry if just one of three criteria is satisfied: a person has issued at least three dishonoured cheques over a period of 12 months, the combined total value of any dishonoured cheque(s) issued over this period exceeds €1,708, or there is a court decision against any person for an offence connected with the issue of dishonoured cheques.

The penalty for being listed is severe. As soon as they are informed of a listing on the CIR Register, all banks and banking co-ops must immediately freeze all current accounts in the name of that person and demand the return of all unused cheques within ten days. No bank or banking co-op is allowed to open a current account in the name of a person listed in the Registry for as long as the listing is in force.

Getting off the Register, however, is much more difficult. This is only possible if all three of the following conditions are satisfied: three years must elapse after being listed in the Registry, the listed person must be able to prove that all previously-registered dishonoured cheques have been honoured, and 12 months must have passed since the last dishonoured cheque was honoured.

However, the CIR’s Managing Committee has the discretion to examine applications for de-registration of a listed person after a period of 12 months following the settlement of all registered dishonoured cheques, provided the settlement is supported by adequate evidence.

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