SECTION 12

The preventive settlement expert shall appraise the situation of the debtor. For this purpose, he may, notwithstanding any repugnant statutory or regulatory provision, obtain records from auditors, accountants, employees’ representatives, public administrations, social security and welfare agencies, banking or financial institutions as well as services in charge of centralizing banking risks and incidents of payment, information that may give accurate information on the financial and economic position of the debtor. The expert shall report breaches to Article 11 above to the competent court. He shall hear the debtor and the creditors and lend them his good offices to facilitate negotiations between them so as to reach an agreement, based on the draft arrangement proposed by the debtor at the outset of the opening request. In the report provided for in article 13 hereinafter, the expert should disclose, for each creditor: - whether he has been actually contacted and on which date; - whether he has consented to a debt reduction or payment time extension and, where applicable, how much or how long; - Whether he has declined to grant time extension and debt reduction, and the reasons thereof.