Concept paper on draft of new Bankruptcy Code submitted to state bodies and experts

In the context of reforms in the bankruptcy sector in Armenia, the concept paper on the draft of the new Bankruptcy Code has been submitted to state bodies, as well as local and international experts. In her opening remarks at the public discussion, Deputy Minister of Justice Armenuhi Harutyunyan mentioned that the concept paper on reforms in the legislation on bankruptcy is of major importance for development of the future Bankruptcy Code. The Bankruptcy Code is a comprehensive document presenting complex studies, and the need for this document emerged a long time ago, as it is imperative to have a document for reforms in the sector-specific legislation, allowing assessing the current situation and presenting the possible ways for settlement of the issues. The concept paper, which serves as a necessary and valuable foundation for developing a single, unified draft legislative act incorporating all procedural and material aspects in relation to bankruptcy proceedings, aims to analyse the current state in the bankruptcy sector, discover the existing sector-specific issues and identify the needs, as well as present the conceptual directions for the reforms in the legislation on bankruptcy and proposed solutions by taking into consideration the international practice, outline the roadmap for implementation of the new legislation on bankruptcy. The new Bankruptcy Code envisages addressing a number of key issues in the sector, including:

(1) the correlation and content of the liquidation and recovery processes;

(2) the features, grounds, criteria and conditions for declaring the debtor bankrupt;

(3) the volume and content of the activities performed within the scope of moratorium;

(4) the status, role and volume of power of bankruptcy administrators;

(5) the property of debtor, the mechanisms for inventory, assessment and sales;

(6) judicial procedures and the role of the court;

(7) special bankruptcy procedures and the proceedings with the participation of a foreign element.

Based on the results of the discussion, the expert team, jointly with the Ministry of Justice, will undertake development of the new draft Code in the near future. The concept paper on the draft of the new Bankruptcy Code was developed in co-operation with the Asian Development Bank and through the involvement of international and local experts. Director of the "Centre for Legislation Development and Legal Research” Foundation of the Ministry of Justice Tigran Dadunts and Principal Counsel at Asian Development Bank Nicholas Moller also took part in the discussion.