England and Wales -- the latest to adopt the Guidelines for Communication and Cooperation between Courts in Cross-Border Insolvency Matters

11 May 2017 – England and Wales is the latest jurisdiction to adopt the Guidelines for Communication and Cooperation between Courts in Cross-Border Insolvency Matters (“the Guidelines”). The Chancery Division of the High Court of England & Wales adopted the Guidelines on 5 May 2017.

2. The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware and the Supreme Court of Singapore were the first to adopt the Guidelines on 1 February 2017. This was followed by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York and the Supreme Court of Bermuda adopting the Guidelines on 17 February 2017 and 9 March 2017 respectively. Please refer to Annex A herein for the status of adoption of the Guidelines to date.

3. The Guidelines facilitate the management of cross-border insolvency matters for the benefit of debtor companies, creditors, employees and other stakeholders.

4. The Guidelines were the result of the inaugural conference in Singapore in October 2016 of the Judicial Insolvency Network (“the JIN”), a network of insolvency judges from key commercial jurisdictions and economies. 11 insolvency judges from Australia (Federal Court and New South Wales), the British Virgin Islands, Canada (Ontario), the Cayman Islands, England & Wales, Hong Kong SAR (as an observer), Singapore and the United States of America (Delaware and Southern District of New York) participated in the conference at the invitation of the Chief Justice. For more information on the JIN and the Guidelines, please see the media releases on 6 October 2016, 11 October 2016 and 1 February 2017.

5. With England and Wales, a total of 5 jurisdictions have adopted the Guidelines. More jurisdictions are expected to adopt the Guidelines in the near future. Meanwhile, the JIN will continue to develop other initiatives to promote judicial cooperation relating to cross-border insolvency cases.

SUPREME COURT
11 MAY 2017

Annex A

The following table sets out the status of adoption of the Guidelines to date: