Recital (63)

Where an entrepreneur has full or partial ownership of a company and is personally liable for all the debt of the company, the fact that the company does not have sufficient assets to cover the cost of the insolvency proceedings should not prevent the entrepreneur from obtaining a discharge of debt in accordance with Directive (EU) 2019/1023 and thus benefit from a second chance. While Member States are not required to introduce a new procedure for the discharge of debt, they should ensure access to procedures for the discharge of debt for entrepreneurs who are natural persons, and not for companies. This Directive concerns insolvent entrepreneurs who are liable for all the debts of a company and should not concern persons who are only partly liable for the debt of a company such as a guarantor for the company’s bank loan and other kinds of guarantees to one of the company’s creditors. This Directive only concerns denial of discharge of debt on the ground that no insolvency proceedings can be opened against the company because the company does not have sufficient assets to cover the costs of such insolvency proceedings. This Directive does not regulate other grounds for denial of discharge of debt, such as those provided for in Directive (EU) 2019/1023. When a person fulfils the conditions for discharge of debt, the date of the decision to refuse or not to open insolvency proceedings against the company can be applied instead of the date referred to in Article 21(1)(b) of Directive (EU) 2019/1023.