POLITICAL parties DISY, AKEL and EDEK wish to extend the transition period of the Statute of Limitations Law and we understand that a proposal will be put to a plenary session of the House today.
The chairman of the Legal Affairs committee, Sotiris Sampson, said that the committee will put forward a proposal to give banks sufficient time to proceed with debt settlements.
The transition period of the ‘new’ limitations law “The Limitations Law (66(1) 2012)”, which came into force on 1st July 2012, had a one-year transition period. In May 2013 the transition period was extended by six months and in December 2013 it was extended by a further 12 months.
We understand that the proposal being discussed today will further extend the transition period by 6 or possibly 12 months.
The 2012 law provides for different limitation periods depending of the nature of the actionable right. For example:
|
Actionable Right
|
Limitation Period
|
|---|---|
| Breach of contract | Six years |
| Damages for nuisance, negligence or breach of Statutory Duties | Six years |
| Defamation or malicious falsehood | One year |
| Tort Actions | Three years |
| Action for remuneration of self-employed persons (e.g. lawyers, doctors, architects, etc.) | Three years |
| Bills of exchange, Bonds in customary forms, cheques, promissory notes | Six years |
Among those set to benefit from a further extension to the transition period are those who bought property in Cyprus with loans denominated in Swiss Francs.
As many of these loans were arranged in 2006, time was running out for them to decide whether to bring a claim against the bank for mis-selling.
This possible extension allows them further time to ponder.
Update 5 December
Yesterday MPs voted to suspend the Statute of Limitations law and it will now come into effect on 31 December 2015.