The importance of efficient bankruptcy procedures is widely recognized. The awareness of the possible costs for an economy of inefficient procedures has induced several European countries to consider reforms of their systems.
On 7 July 2000 Banca d’Italia organized an international seminar on bankruptcy at its Brussels representative office. The aim of the seminar was to allow experts from Italy and the Benelux countries to meet and compare their experiences with their countries’ legislations.We present here the text of the speeches delivered at the seminar, as well as a summary of the discussion that followed.
The participants were representatives of four central banks, lawyers, bankers and university professors who, in their different capacities, are involved in the study of bankruptcy legislation. The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the European Commission were represented as well. The former is in charge of designing the structural reform initiatives of the Dutch Government, the latter has promoted several initiatives in the field, among which the regulation on insolvency proceedings approved by the Council of the European Union on 29 May 2000.
Since the reform of bankruptcy procedures is also on the agenda in Italy, we believe that international comparisons of different legal frameworks provide useful elements for deepening the discussion on the main issues at stake.
