INTRODUCTION

This chapter is General Report for Session 3, “Transnational Cooperation in Cross-Border Insolvency,” of XVI World Congress of Civil Procedure.

Because of the increasing volume of international trade and investment, we are now finding more and more cross-border insolvency cases than ever. The purposes of insolvency law are equal distribution among creditors, maximization of the value of a debtor’s assets, promoting effective reorganization of a debtor’s business in a rehabilitation proceeding, and ultimately enhancing certainty in the market and promoting economic stability and growth. There is no doubt that these purposes should also apply to multinational insolvency cases to the greatest extent possible. Nowadays, it is widely accepted that each country is expected to have a fair and harmonized legal framework for transnational cooperation in cross-border insolvency cases.

For Session 3, the other General Report is submitted, which is written by Professor Georg Kodek (hereinafter “Kodek Report”). The Kodek Report is quite comprehensive, is organized systematically, and covers almost all issues and arguments that are theoretically and/or practically important. In consideration of these characteristics of the Kodek Report, this chapter will be rather short and supplemental in relation to the Kodek Report in the following two senses. First, it will mainly focus on three countries – China, South Korea, and Japan – taking into account that this Congress was held in East Asia for the first time. Secondly, it will rely on country reports from the three countries shown above, which are answers to the Questionnaires, because the Kodek Report seems to be based mainly on already published literature such as academic articles and legislative materials. These three reports were written by the following distinguished colleagues:

• – Hon. Bingkun Ye (China), Head of the Six Civil (Financial& Bankruptcy) Division, Xiamen Intermediate People’s Court, Fujian Province, China

• – Hon. Young Seok Kim (South Korea), Seoul Bankruptcy Court, South Korea

• – Prof. J in Chun, Doshisha University, Japan.

Each report will be cited as the “China Report,” the “Korea Report,” and the “Japan Report” respectively. This chapter will pick up three topics, that is, reciprocity (section 2), then cooperation between courts (section 3), and, finally, the meaning and effects of recognition (section 4).