Federation Council of Federal Assembly of Russian Federation Discussed Progress on IPA CIS Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency

A roundtable on the topic: "Legislative Regulation of Cross-Border Bankruptcy: Interaction of Proceedings in Different Jurisdictions" was held in Moscow. The meeting was chaired by First Deputy Chair of the Committee of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Nikolay Vladimirov.

The event was attended by representatives of government bodies, academic circles, large businesses, and members of the IPA CIS working group on the preparation of the draft Model law on Cross-Border Insolvency and Bankruptcy.

Deputy Head of the IPA CIS working group and Deputy Head of the Department of Business Legal Regulation at the HSE University Faculty of Law Elena Mokhova delivered a report on the progress of work on the draft Model law on Cross-Border Insolvency and Bankruptcy.

Proposals for improving the document, developed by staff of the "Russian Export Center" group of companies, were presented by member of the IPA CIS working group and Managing Director for Legal Support of Administrative and Economic Activities and Judicial Work at JSC "Russian Export Center" Sergey Seliverstov.

Representative of the National Union of Anti-Crisis Management Professionals Elena Pavlova emphasized the particular relevance of legitimizing mechanisms for regulating cross-border insolvency in the context of tightening sanctions policies against Belarus, Russia, and other participants in relations, in order to ensure the return of blocked assets and the effective search abroad for assets of unscrupulous persons hidden from creditors.

At the meeting, a proposal was made on the need to develop proposals for the effective implementation and adaptation of digitalization mechanisms in the interaction of arbitration receivers with ministries, departments, judicial, state and other bodies and organizations of different countries in cross-border insolvency proceedings in different jurisdictions.

Founder of "K-Legal" Alexander Kostin highlighted issues of international assistance in the field of cross-border bankruptcy.

Head of the Private International Law Department at Kutafin Moscow State Law University and arbitrator at the Guangzhou Arbitration Commission (China) Vladimir Kanashevskiy pointed out the need to review existing practices in the field of cross-border insolvency procedures, as well as the lack of clear documents regulating cross-border bankruptcy and the specifics of the burden of proving the principle of reciprocity in the process of such procedures.

Member of the IPA CIS working group, Associate Professor at the Russian School of Private Law of the Private Law Research Center under the President of the Russian Federation, and member of the Expert Council on Improving Insolvency (Bankruptcy) Legislation under the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Oleg Zaitsev spoke about the importance of the principle of formal equality in bankruptcy procedures, which ensures the observance of the interests of all participants in the process, and noted the significance of determining the applicable law.

Proposals to take into account the specific requirements of the notary in the process of working on the draft document and the need to consider the issue of standardizing the requirements for arbitration receivers were made by representative of the Notarial Chamber of the City of Moscow, Anton Makarov, and representative of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation Artur Trapitsyn.

Representatives of real sector companies - Sberbank PJSC, Aeroflot PJSC, and Gazprombank PJSC - took an active part in the discussion during the summing up of the roundtable results.

The IPA CIS Council Secretariat was represented by Secretary of the IPA CIS Permanent Commission on Economy and Finance Roman Levin.