Facts
The proceedings concern the transfer of a debt collection request to the competent debt collection office. The appellant had sent a debt collection request by post to the debt collection office of Basel-Stadt, although the request was addressed to the debt collection office of the municipality of Zürich and against the insurance company B., Zürich. The supervisory authority over the debt collection and bankruptcy office of Basel-Stadt had decided that the debt collection office of Basel-Stadt was not obliged to forward the debt collection request to the debt collection office of Zürich.
The parties involved are the appellant, the supervisory authority over the debt collection and bankruptcy office of Basel-Stadt, and the debt collection office of Basel-Stadt. The proceedings were initiated on 29 November 2001 before the Debt Collection and Bankruptcy Chamber.
Considerations
The transfer of a debt collection request to the competent debt collection office is governed by Art. 32 para. 2 DEBA. According to this provision, the debt collection office that received the debt collection request must transfer it to the competent debt collection office, provided that the information in the debt collection request indicates the competent debt collection office.
The Federal Court has ruled that the debt collection office of Basel-Stadt was obliged to forward the debt collection request to the debt collection office of Zürich, since the information in the debt collection request indicated the competent debt collection office. The supervisory authority violated federal law by deciding that the debt collection office of Basel-Stadt was not obliged to forward the debt collection request to the debt collection office of Zürich.
The Federal Court has referred the…