Reflections of the World Bank’s Report on the Treatment of the Insolvency of Natural Persons in the Newest Consumer Bankruptcy Laws: Colombia, Italy, Ireland

In 2011, the World Bank initiated its first-ever examination of the policies and characteristics of effective insolvency systems for individuals (natural persons). This paper describes the two-year process that led to the publication of the World Bank’s landmark Report on the Treatment of the Insolvency of Natural Persons. After examining the key content and three major themes of the Report, three of the most recent new personal insolvency regimes are introduced with an eye to identifying the ways in which the themes of the Report are reflected in these new laws. The personal insolvency provisions in Colombian law most directly evidence the influence of the World Bank project. Its major themes are reflected distinctly in the new laws in Italy and Ireland, as well, though in very different ways, lending support to the World Bank’s predictions of convergence but continuing diversity of approach around the world in this rapidly developing area of law

Securing Russia\u27s Future: A Plea For Reform in Russian Secured Transactions Law

After many turbulent years of uneasy transition to a market economy, Russia is finally open for business. Nonetheless, the transitional period remains far from over, and Russian enterprises are still starved for capital that they desperately need for retooling to convert from military to consumer production, for acquiring new equipment to replace old and worn machinery, and for undertaking new and lucrative projects. While Russian financial institutions may provide significant funding, their reserves are limited; they could not hope to finance independently the multitude of existing and potential enterprises within the expansive Russian territory. Therefore, much of the financing for the continuing development of Russian business has and will come from Western sources. The Russian legislature recently has taken a great stride toward further enticing Western investment by adopting a new and greatly enhanced Civil Code. There, nested within a fairly detailed section on the law of obligations, lies a subsection on various methods of securing the performance of obligations, including an expanded and sophisticated section on pledge

Law in Books Versus Law in Action in the Landmark Shenzhen, China, Personal Bankruptcy Regime

The first personal bankruptcy regime in Mainland China celebrated its second anniversary on March 1, 2023. An empirical assessment of the law in action during these first two years reveals some troubling deviations from the early promises of the new law on the books. In the first year, a handful of judges were charged with an arduous in-person review process for over 1,000 applicants, and they accepted only twenty-five for case initiation. In the second year, initial case review was delegated to an administrative body—an important efficiency enhancement that tripled the number of opened cases. Nonetheless, most debtors continue to be dissuaded from applying at all, and hundreds of applications have been rejected, in part on the non-statutory grounds that the court is admitting only business-related cases. Moreover, the default gateway of liquidation-and-discharge has been successfully used only once, secretly relegated to “last resort” status. Debtors are effectively limited to proposing that creditors accept a payment plan offering full repayment of principal within five years, and creditors have rejected many such plans. While most admitted restructuring cases have led to confirmed plans, many of these “successes” are built on very shaky foundations that portend likely struggle and repeat default ahead. The new system, thus, seems to be operating in quite a skewed fashion: admitting only a very small fraction of applicants and offering relief on narrow and demanding grounds. This is a disappointing abandonment of the textual promise of broad, standardized relief consistent with international best practices. As national authorities in China (and elsewhere) consider adopting a country-wide personal bankruptcy law, Shenzhen’s experience illustrates the challenges of striking the right balance between relief and responsibility in personal insolvency regulation

\u3cem\u3eLa Responsabilisation de L\u27economie\u3c/em\u3e: What the United States Can Learn from the New French Law on Consumer Overindebtedness

This Article on the French law continues a study of European consumer debt-relief systems, which the author began previously in an article on the German system. With rapid legal and practical developments in consumer debt-relief law, Europe provides an excellent comparative legal laboratory for observing the potential benefits and pitfalls of consumer bankruptcy reforms. In particular, French and German experiences with long-term payment plans shed useful light on the great debate raging in the United States over similar plans

The Hidden Life of Consumer Bankruptcy Reform

This Article offers a unique perspective on the heavily revised U.S. consumer bankruptcy law, which went effect on October 17, 2005, in light of a surprising discovery: It turns out that the U.S. consumer bankruptcy system as reformed resembles in many critical respects the consumer bankruptcy system in place for the past six years in the Netherlands. As a result of this serendipitous U.S.-Dutch convergence, years of experience under the Dutch consumer debt relief system can provide a rare glimpse into the future of the new U.S. system. The Dutch law in practice has diverged in significant ways from legislative expectations, and such divergences might well be repeated--for better or worse--in the United States. In particular, comparisons between the Dutch and U.S. systems reveal latent weaknesses and portend an impending breakdown in the credit counseling and means testing parts of our new system. A comparative view of recent Dutch developments offers not only cause for concern, however, but also hope for some effective solutions

Treating the New European Disease of Consumer Debt in a Post-Communist State: The Groundbreaking New Russian Personal Insolvency Law, 41 Brook. J. Int\u27l L. 655 (2016)

This article examines the tumultuous transition from restrictive Communism to the debt-fueled consumer economy of modern Russia. In particular, it surveys Russia’s legal response to severe debt distress, situating it in the context of nearly one thousand years of historical development. Effective 1 October 2015, Russia finally joined most of its European neighbors in adopting a personal bankruptcy law, with characteristics that reflect both evolving international best practices and a series of lessons not learned. This article offers the first detailed exposition in English of the two steps forward represented by this new law, as well as an evaluation of the one step back that will likely result when Russia experiences the same challenges with personal insolvency procedures that its European neighbors have faced in recent years. The analysis here contributes to a deeper understanding of modern Russian law and society by tracing the striking emergence of a massive consumer debt problem only a few years after the fall of Communism, along with the development of a solution that is largely consistent with European norms but remains in many respects uniquely Russian