Draft Law on Bankruptcy: More Economical and Efficient Solutions

According to the information accessible by the Bankruptcy Supervision Agency, as of the 1st of April 2021, there are 1813 active bankruptcy proceedings in total on the territory of the Republic of Serbia. The average duration of proceedings initiated according to the Law on Bankruptcy is 1 year, 8 months. The draft law on the amendments to the Law on Bankruptcy (“Draft Law”) is set to enter the parliamentary discussion and adoption procedure before the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia during the year.

The primary goal of proposed amendments of the Draft Law, as with the previous amendments, are more transparent, faster, and more economical proceedings with limitation of the duration period of proceedings. Specifically, for the purpose of accelerating the duration period of bankruptcy proceedings, shorter deadlines are anticipated for undertaking actions, for example a shorter deadline for reporting claims by creditors, shorter deadlines for courts’ decisions on the plan of reorganization, and likewise. Hence, it is clear that the intention of the legislator was to prescribe shorter deadlines for undertaking actions in the proceedings, so that the proceedings would be as efficient as possible, for the purpose of satisfying the creditors. What we have yet to see is how the courts will act and whether they will respect the numerous legal deadlines, which has not always been the case.

Also, there are significant changes considering digitalization in actions undertaken by bankruptcy proceeding authorities, especially with the introduction of sale of debtor’s assets i.e., the debtor himself in electronic bankruptcy proceedings which represents, in pandemic times, a pivotal issue which shall undoubtedly have an impact on the efficiency of the proceedings.

On the basis of previous practice, there is a room for introduction of specific novelties that would improve the bankruptcy proceedings additionally, creating circumstances for its smooth practical implementation.

For more information on the matters pertaining to insolvency and bankruptcy, please contact us at office@vuliclaw.com.