Summary

As a result of the on-going development of international commercial law and the growing importance of a global market, the number of bankruptcy proceedings where the debtor is a person operating in more than one country is on the rise. It is clear that national law is not sufficient for the regulation of this field and additional, internationally recognised regulation is called for. Theoreticians even treat the regulation of international or cross-border bankruptcy proceedings as a separate part of private international law. However, it should be noted that the rules of private international law constitute only one part of the international regulation of bankruptcy proceedings.

The article deals with Council Regulation (EC) No. 1346/2000 of 29 May 2000 on insolvency proceedings, in effect as of 31 May 2002. Major issues are highlighted such as the main and secondary insolvency proceedings, the law applicable, the recognition of insolvency proceedings in other Member States, including the powers of the liquidator, participation of creditors in insolvency proceedings and determination of the location of a debtor. For Estonia, this area is topical, as the Regulation has direct effect in Estonia which became a Member State of the European Union on 1 May 2004.