By Georgina King a Senior Associate of Matthews Folbigg, in our Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group.
Guidelines to promote coordination and cooperation among courts when insolvency or debt adjustment proceedings are underway in more than one jurisdiction have been formulated at a meeting attended by judges from various jurisdictions including Australia in October 2016.
The guidelines set out:
- information and rules relating to adoption and interpretation of the guidelines
- rules and methods for courts hearing parallel foreign proceedings to communicate with each other
- permission for courts to authorise parties and other appropriate persons to appear before a foreign court hearing a parallel proceeding
- consequential provisions regarding recognition and acceptance of laws, regulations, rules of court, and orders made by courts, in other jurisdictions, and amendment, modification or extension of any protocols or orders made by a court under the guidelines to the extent considered appropriate
- permission for a court to conduct hearings jointly with another court and the rules to apply or be considered for inclusion in a protocol or order in respect of the conduct of joint hearings
The guidelines state that they are best practice for dealing with parallel proceedings and that their overarching objective is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of cross-border proceedings underway in more than one jurisdiction. The guidelines also state that they are to be implemented in each jurisdiction in such manner as the jurisdiction deems fit. Possible methods for implementation referred to in the guidelines are practice directions and commercial guides.
The guidelines can be viewed here and an international law firm article reporting on the meeting and guidelines in detail can be viewed here.
If you would like more information or advice in relation to insolvency, restructuring or debt recovery law, contact Georgina King on (02) 9806 7485 or georginak@matthewsfolbigg.com.au or a Principal of the Matthews Folbigg Insolvency, Restructuring & Debt Recovery Group:
Jeffrey Brown on (02) 9806 7446 or jeffreyb@matthewsfolbigg.com.au
Stephen Mullette on (02) 9806 7459 or stephenm@matthewsfolbigg.com.au.
