Facts
In the debt enforcement proceedings of Rolf E. Degele against the company Egli Installationen AG in Basel for a claim of CHF 104,669.85 plus interest, the Debt Enforcement Office of Basel-Stadt issued the payment order on July 26, 1989. However, the company Egli Installationen AG had relocated its registered office to Gelterkinden on June 23, 1989, which was registered in the Commercial Register of Basel-Stadt on July 11, 1989. The publication in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt) was not until July 26, 1989.
Peag Engineering AG, the new owner of Egli Installationen AG, filed a complaint against the debt enforcement proceedings No. 89/29346 and No. 89/90004 on the grounds that the debt enforcement should have been carried out at the new registered office in Gelterkinden. The cantonal supervisory authority upheld the complaints and revoked the debt enforcement proceedings.
Rolf E. Degele filed an appeal against this decision with the Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy Chamber of the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. It stated that according to Art. 46 para. 2 DEBA, legal entities must be subject to debt enforcement at their registered office. In the case of a corporation, the relocation of the registered office becomes effective immediately upon registration in the Commercial Register, regardless of the publication in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce.
In the present case, the registered office of Egli Installationen AG was deleted from the Commercial Register of…