Events
Dissemination event and judicial training for “Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ICR-ROSC) in Romania“
Dissemination event and judicial training for “Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ICR-ROSC) in Romania“
May 27-28, 2014Romanian House of the Parliament, Bucharest, Romania


The dissemination event “Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ICR-ROSC) in Romania“ was held on 27 May at the Romanian House of the Parliament. The event was designed by the ICR team in collaboration with Finance and Private Sector team within the World Bank Office in Bucharest, the Ministry of Justice, Juridical Commission of the Chamber of Deputies and the Insolvency Code Consortium.

Dissemination event

The dissemination event “Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ICR-ROSC) in Romania“ was held on 27 May at the Romanian House of the Parliament. The event was designed by the ICR team in collaboration with Finance and Private Sector team within the World Bank Office in Bucharest, the Ministry of Justice, Juridical Commission of the Chamber of Deputies and the Insolvency Code Consortium.

The Romania ICR ROSC was finalized recently and was delivered to the Romanian authorities in April 2014. Many of the recommendations in the ROSC were taken on board in a new insolvency law which was recently enacted. In the process, technical assistance and support was provided to the Romanian authorities throughout the various stages of the formulation of the new law and the debates that took place.

The dissemination event brought together various relevant groups of Romanian stakeholders, including judges, insolvency practitioners, lawyers, accountants, bankers, and officials from relevant ministries (a total of about 100 participants). The event commenced with welcoming remarks by the Minister of Justice, the Head of Legal Commission of the Chamber of Deputies and the President of the Supreme Counsel of Magistracy, who noted the commitment of the Romanian authorities to the development of a thriving business environment through the modernization of the legal infrastructure supporting businesses, and thanked the World Bank for the continuing support and assistance through expert support and knowledge sharing. Elisabetta Capannelli, World Bank Country Manager for Romania, emphasized the critical role and impact that assessment reports have had in Romania and highlighted some of the key recommendations of the ICR ROSC. Dr. Irit Mevorach then presented the ICR ROSC findings and recommendations, and highlighted the key areas were the ROSC conclusions were already taken on board, and areas which require further monitoring going forward.

Subsequently, a roundtable panel comprising representatives of key stakeholder groups - lenders, the judiciary and insolvency professionals - discussed aspects of the report from different perspectives. The Executive President of the Banking Association noted that the ICR ROSC has managed to capture the actual practice in Romania. He then highlighted the challenges faced by lenders dealing with distressed debt, but also that banks are learning to appreciate that insolvency is not necessarily the end of the possibility for recovery of the debt. A syndic judge noted the challenges faced by the insolvency judges in the absence of sufficient capacity and resources. A representative of the Insolvency Practitioners Association noted the need to improve training in economics and business administration for administrators, especially in view of the greater focus on restructuring. The panel was then joined by the ICR team for a questions and answers session.

The second part of the event focused on the new insolvency law and on key challenges in its implementation. The process leading to the reform and its key aims were presented and discussed by a panel with representatives of the Ministry of Justice and the Insolvency Code Consortium. The panelists stressed in their speeches the invaluable support they had received from the World Bank throughout the process leading to the reform, especially in view of the intense debates that took place and as it was often required to reach understandings between conflicting interests. Leif Clark then led a discussion on key challenges in restructurings and workouts. It was stressed that the new law, which includes in one code the pre insolvency and insolvency procedures, is now more modern and largely compatible with international standards, however the lack of rescue and negotiation culture raises the question whether restructuring procedures will be used in practice, whether new finance will be provided, and whether key participants, including tax authorities, will take part in the process. The final presentation, by Irit Mevorach, Senior Counsel at the World Bank Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes Initiative, looked at recent and on-going international developments in the areas of directors’ obligations, enterprise groups and international insolvency. The aim was to raise awareness to the evolution of international standards, highlight the relevance of these new developments to the Romanian insolvency framework and to encourage the authorities to both monitor and actively participate in international standard setting.

Judicial training

The judicial training organized on May 28 took stock of the ROSC findings and recommendations as well as the further developments in the new insolvency law.

The event was designed by the ICR team in collaboration with the World Bank Finance and Private Sector, the Ministry of Justice, the Insolvency Code Consortium at the Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) Bucharest office. The workshop aimed at building capacity in the judiciary to enhance the ability to deal with the complexity of insolvency cases and to manage with greater skill and confidence restructuring proceedings.

The program included sessions on three key aspects:

  • Challenges for judges under the new insolvency law (led by Leif Clark, ICR team).
  • Economic principles applicable to insolvency proceedings (led by PwC, Romania).
  • Case management techniques and skills (led by Dr. Diana Ungureanu, Romania).

The sessions generated lively and highly relevant debates and discussions among the judges.

Download the agenda in English (PDF)

8.30 – 9.00 am

Welcome Coffee. Registration

9.00 – 9.30 am

Welcoming Remarks

Liviu-Bogdan Ciucă, Head of Legal, Discipline and Immunity Commission, Chamber of Deputies

Robert-Marius Cazanciuc, Minister of Justice

Elisabetta Capannelli, Country Manager, World Bank Romania and Hungary

 

9.30 – 10.15 am

Presentation on Country Practices

Dr. Irit Mevorach, World Bank

·     Access to credit and protection of creditor rights

·     Risk management and restructuring

·     Legal framework for business insolvency

·     Institutional framework for creditor-debtor regimes and insolvency

·     Policy recommendations and priorities

10.15 – 11.00 am

Round-table discussion of issues and findings of the ROSC

Moderator: Dr. Diana Ungureanu, National Institute of Magistracy

Ionela Ghiugan, Judge, Bucharest Tribunal

Carmen Popa, Member of the National Executive Council  of the Romanian Association of Practitioners in Insolvency

Florin Dănescu, Executive President of the Romanian Banking Association

 

 

11:00 – 11:15 am

 

 

11:15- 11:30 am

 

Discussion, questions and answers regarding the presentation on country practices and the round-table discussion

Coffee break

11:30 – 12:15 pm

Presentation of the insolvency reform process

Moderator: Florin Moţiu, Judge, Ministry of Justice

Speakers:

Irina Șarcane, Partner Șarcane&Associates, Insolvency Code Project Leader

Simona Miloș, President of the National Institute for Training Practitioners in Insolvency, Member of the “Insolvency Code” Consortium Team

Dr. Sorin David, Partner, D&B David and Baias, Member of the “Insolvency Code” Consortium Team

Radu Bufan, Professor, West University Timișoara, Member of the “Insolvency Code” Consortium Team

 

12:15 – 1:15 pm

Discussion of key challenges in the restructuring and insolvency framework

Judge Leif M. Clark World Bank

·     Informal workouts and building a workout culture

·     Enhancing the prospect of reorganization (the reach of the moratorium; post commencement finance; creditor participation; dealing with deadlines)

·     The role of the insolvency professionals; the role of the judges

 

1:15 – 2:15 pm

Lunch Break

 

2:15 – 3:00 pm

Discussion of key challenges in the restructuring and insolvency framework - new international developments

Dr. Irit Mevorach, World Bank

·     Directors and controllers obligations in close proximity to insolvency

·     The insolvency of enterprise groups

·     International insolvency

 

3:00 – 3:15 pm

Closing Statement

Florin Moțiu, Judge, Ministry of Justice

  • Image

    LIVIU-BOGDAN CIUCĂ

    Head of Legal, Discipline and Immunity Commission, Chamber of Deputies
    Liviu-Bogdan Ciucă is Head of Legal, Discipline and Immunity Commission, Chamber of Deputies. He graduated from the Faculty of Law and has a Law PhD. Mr.Ciuca activated as a public notary since 1997 and as a member of the Romanian Parliament since 2004. Moreover, he is Ph.D. Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law Danubius University of Galati and at the Faculty of Legal, Social and Political Science within Lower Danube University of Galati. He is a member of various international associations such as the International Association of Criminal Law, the International Association of Civil Law, the International Union of Latin Notaries, European Law Society, Washington Academy of Sciences, New York Academy of Sciences. It has also a rich publishing activity signing as author and co-author over 14 papers on matters such as the right to property and inheritance.
  • Image

    ROBERT-MARIUS CAZANCIUC

    Minister of Justice
    Robert-Marius Cazanciuc has been the Minister of Justice since 15 April 2013. Magistrate by profession, he held management positions in several public institutions, having a consistent experience in the implementation of reforms for modernizing the administrative structures’ activity. A graduate from the Faculty of Law within Bucharest University and from the National Institute of Magistracy, during the period 1998-2004 he has attended training courses and had study visits in France, Germany and United States of America. During the period 1995-1998 he was a public prosecutor, within the Prosecutor’s Office of Ilfov Court of Law. Since 1998 Robert Cazanciuc has transferred to the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Supreme Court of Justice where he worked for two years as a public prosecutor within the Office for Media Relations. From 2000 to 2001 he was a spokesman of the same Prosecutor’s Office, elaborating during this period the first guide for media relations of the Public Ministry of Romania. During 2001-2004, Robert Cazanciuc was Director General and then Sub-secretary of State within Prime Minister’s Control Body. As a Sub-secretary of State he coordinated the team elaborating the Agreement for Administrative Cooperation with OLAF. In 2004 he was appointed Secretary of State at the Structural Adjustment and Program Implementation Department, a position in which he elaborated and supported, in the relation with the institutions of the European Union, the actions plans aiming at the implementation of the commitments undertaken by Romania. In 2005 Robert Cazanciuc was Deputy Director General at the National Administration of Penitentiaries. Then, until 2008, he was lead public prosecutor at the Office for Media Relations within the Prosecutor’s Office by the High Court of Cassation and Justice, and during the period 2009 - 2013 he was Secretary General within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  • Image

    ELISABETTA CAPANNELLI

    Country Manager, World Bank Romania and Hungary
    Elisabetta Capannelli, an Italian national, became the World Bank Country Manager for Romania and Hungary on May 7, 2013. Ms. Capannelli joined the World Bank in 1998 as an Economist in the Urban Development Department in the East Asia and Pacific Region. She has since held various positions, including Manager of the Program for Private Sector Participation in Infrastructure in the Middle East and North Africa Region, and Sector Leader for the Sustainable Development Department in the Europe and Central Asia Region. Between 2005 and 2008, Ms. Capannelli worked at the European Commission where she was, among other roles, a Cabinet Member for Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, then Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs. Ms. Capannelli was in charge of the Cabinet’s international portfolio. Prior to joining the World Bank, Ms. Capannelli lived in Manila where she worked for the Asian Development Bank in the South Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific Regions. Before starting her international career, she worked for three years in Italy as an economist for Nomisma in Bologna, was a partner of an economics and econometrics consulting firm, teacher, and researcher. Ms. Capannelli holds a Master of Arts in Political Science with a Major in Economics from Bologna University, and a Master of Arts in Development Economics from Sussex University.
  • Image

    IRIT MEVORACH

    World Bank
    Dr. Irit Mevorach is a Senior Counsel at the World Bank, co-head of the Bank's insolvency and creditor/debtor regimes initiative, and an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Nottingham (UK, on leave). Irit holds degrees in law from Tel-Aviv University (LLB with distinction, 1997, LLM, 2001) and UCL, London (PhD, 2006). She has been a senior associate at Lipa Meir & Co, Tel-Aviv, Israel (1998-2003), and acted as companies' liquidator as well as advised in restructuring, administrations and liquidations of large enterprises. Irit’s areas of expertise are insolvency, company law and private international law. She has published in prominent legal journals in Britain, Europe and the United States. Her book 'Insolvency within Multinational Enterprise Groups' (Oxford University Press, 2009) has won the Edwin-Co / INSOL Europe Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship (2010) and in 2005 she received a gold medal prize for research in international insolvency law from the International Insolvency Institute. Irit has been awarded British Academy grants for her empirical research in the area of cross-border insolvency. Between the years 2006-2013 Irit has acted as an expert advisor to the UK government in the deliberations of Working Group V (Insolvency Law) of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).
  • Image

    DIANA UNGUREANU

    National Institute of Magistracy
    Diana Ungureanu is a judge at Court of Appeal Pitesti, Romania. Currently she is detached at National Institute of Magistracy as trainer for judges on commercial law and competition law. She is a PhD lecturer at Christian University Dimitrie Cantemir, Bucharest. She graduated as head of promotion the Law Faculty at Bucharest University and she has a PhD in international commercial law on crossborder insolvency from Academy of Economic Sciences, Bucharest and an LLM in Public administration. She was Deputy Director of National Institute of Magistracy for 3 years. In 2010 she has started a PhD in competition law at University of Limoges, France. She is a regular speaker on commercial, insolvency and competition law in national and international conferences and she attends many international events in this field. She is also author of books and many articles in this field, including a book on cross-border insolvency.
  • IONELA GHIUGAN

    Judge, Bucharest Tribunal
    Ionela Mariana Ghiugan graduated in 1997 from the Faculty of Law within Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi and the National Institute of Magistracy in 1998. She was a judge at the District 1 Court of Law and at the District 6 Court of Law of Bucharest, and starting from 2004 at the Insolvency Section of Bucharest Tribunal. During the period January 2007 – April 2012 she was assigned to the Judicial Inspectorate within the Superior Council of Magistracy, then she resumed her activity as syndic judge within Bucharest Tribunal. She was a member of the Board of Experts for preparing the Insolvency Act (2005-2006) and the Insolvency Code (2013-2014).
  • Image

    CARMEN POPA

    Member of the National Executive Council of the Romanian Association of Practitioners in Insolvency
    Carmen Popa is a member of the National Management Board of the National Union of Insolvency Practitioners of Romania. She graduated from the Department of Law within Bucharest University, with major in International Law, and from the Center of European Studies by Nancy II University, with major in EU Law. She was part of a team of authors that prepared the 2006-2009 Case-law Collection, Insolvency Procedure, C.H.Beck publishing house. She is an author of legal studies published in the Phoenix Magazine of U.N.P.I.R. She is currently acting as lawyer specialized in business law and insolvency practitioner.
  • Image

    FLORIN DĂNESCU

    Executive President of the Romanian Banking Association
    Mr. Florin Dănescu has an experience of more than 17 years in the banking and financial service industry. Having a degree in Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies and being an EMBA graduate from WU Executive Academy, Mr. Dănescu started his career in 1995 at the Ministry of Finance, where he coordinated and monitored the relations with the international financial institutions. Since 1996 he focused on the treasury activity and became Head of the Financial Markets Department within an important state-owned bank. In 2000, Mr. Dănescu has joined the team of a small private owned bank, as Head of the Treasury Department, subsequently becoming Prime-vice-president, in charge with the administration of cash operations, the treasury and risk management activity, and the activities and initiatives in the area of information technology, being involved in defining and implementing the bank strategy and in elaborating and managing the budget. Since 2008, Mr. Dănescu was selected as CEO, thus becoming one of the youngest bank CEOs in Romania. In 2011, Mr. Florin Dănescu was appointed by the banking community as Executive President of the Romanian Banking Association. His vast experience and project-oriented strategic thinking coincided with the objectives and the strategic plan of the Romanian Banking Association. As Executive President of the Romanian Banking Association, Mr. Dănescu undertakes the role of representative of the banking community, defending banks’ interests and promoting the principles of the banking policy in areas of general interest for the members of the association. Since 2011, Mr. Florin Dănescu has been representing the Romanian Banking Association within the Executive Committee of the European Banking Federation.
  • Image

    FLORIN MOȚIU

    Judge, Ministry of Justice
    Florin Aurel Moțiu is judge at the Court of Appeal, Timișoara, currently assigned to the Ministry of Justice. A graduate from the Faculty of Law of the University of Bucharest, he has a Ph.D. degree in commercial law awarded by the West University of Timișoara in 2005, with the distinction Magna Cum Laude. He started his teaching career in 1997 and he is currently a Ph.D. university lecturer at the Faculty of Law within West University of Timișoara. Florin has also been a trainer in commercial law at the National Institute of Magistracy since 2004 and a European judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters trainer since 2007. He has been a member of the national network of judges for judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters since 2004 and he is the author of 45 articles published in various legal journals. Also, he is the author and co-author of 21 monographic works and academic courses, amongst which “Special Contracts in the New Civil Code” and “Commercial Contracts of Intermediation without Representation”.
  • Image

    IRINA ȘARCANE

    Partner Șarcane&Associates, Insolvency Code Project Leader
    Ana-Irina Șarcane, attorney-at-law, is the Managing Partner of Șarcane & Associates as well as the founder of Five SPRL. Prior to that, she worked for more than 15 years with PwC as a Senior Lawyer with the Business Recovery Services group. In her position, she has coordinated the legal team in a large number of insolvency assignments, which included several of the most complex cases conducted in Romania. She has an extensive experience as an insolvency advisor as well as a litigator in commercial and civil law matters, covering all degrees of jurisdiction. Currently Irina is coordinating the World Bank funded project for drafting the Insolvency Code, working in a consortium with some of the most prestigious lawyers, insolvency practitioners and scholars on the Romanian market. Between 2004 and 2006, she has been one of the two local project coordinators of the Phare project regarding the improvement of the bankruptcy system in Romania, which resulted in the new insolvency law, an electronic file management system for the Courts as well as training for 500 judges and clerks. As an active member of the insolvency practitioners’ community, Irina has been a speaker on insolvency issues at conferences and other professional meetings, both in Romania and abroad. She is also a trainer, delivering lectures on insolvency issues at continuing education conferences for UNPIR members. Irina is a member of the Romanian Insolvency Practitioners Association (UNPIR) – since 1999 (founding member); member of the European Insolvency Practitioners Association (INSOL EUROPE) – since 1999, a member of the Bucharest Bar – since 1996 and a member of the Academic Board of INPPI (The Institute for the Continuous Education of the Insolvency Practitioners).
  • Image

    SIMONA MILOȘ

    President of the National Institute for Training Practitioners in Insolvency, Member of the “Insolvency Code” Consortium Team
    Simona Maria Miloș, a founding member and partner in Stănescu, Miloș, Dumitru și Asociații (SMDA), a law firm established in 2006. The specialization she mastered and where she is well-known as an awesome adversary, is aimed at the distinct area of insolvency procedures, in which she was actively involved, both as lawyer in highly complex litigations and as doctrinarian, through numerous works published in the specialized magazines or presented in conferences and workshops. Also present at chair – as she is acting as lecturer within seminars meant for insolvency specialists, as well as within PHARE projects for elaboration of the insolvency legislation, Simona Miloș is part of the team of the consortium that participated in the elaboration of the new Insolvency Code. A member of the Bucharest Bar (since 1998), of the National Union of Insolvency Practitioners of Romania, of the International Bar Association, of “Union Internationale des Avocats” and of INSOL Europe (since 2001), she is, starting from 2012, Chairman of the National Institute for Insolvency Practitioner Training in Romania (INPPI) – an institution specialized in the initial and continuous training of insolvency practitioners, according to the mandatory legislative acts.
  • Image

    SORIN DAVID

    Partner, D&B David and Baias, Member of the “Insolvency Code” Consortium Team
    Sorin David is managing partner at D&B David și Baias Law firm. He has been a member of the Bucharest Bar since 1991 and was an arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration by the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry during 2002-2005 and from 2012 on. Sorin has graduated from higher education institutions in Romania (University of Bucharest, summa cum laude Ph.D.), United States of America (Master’s Degree in Fiscal Law „With Honors”) and Netherlands (post-academic studies). He is also a professor of the Faculty of Law within University of Bucharest, where he is teaching commercial law and competition law. He is an expert in the area of corporate law and groups of companies law, in competition law and in the area of mergers and acquisitions. Sorin is the author of more than 20 articles in legal publications in Romania and abroad. He is also a co-author of the work “Companies Act. Comment by articles”, one of the reference works in the area of Romanian corporate law. Sorin has taken part in various projects aimed at harmonizing the Romanian legislation with the EU regulations and the international best practices. Thus, over time he has taken part in legislative projects regarding the Sponsorship Act (1992), the Companies Act (1997; 2006), the Security interests legislation (1999), the Insolvency legislation (2000; 2006; 2014).
  • Image

    RADU BUFAN

    Professor, West University Timișoara, Member of the “Insolvency Code” Consortium Team
    Radu Bufan is a professor and Ph.D. supervisor in the areas of fiscal law and insolvency law at the Faculty of Law within the West University of Timișoara. Radu is also coordinating the Master’s Degree in Fiscal Law at the Faculty of Law within Bucharest University. A graduate from the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the University of Timișoara and from the Faculty of Law within Bucharest University, Radu is a member of Timiș Bar, of CECCAR, UNPIR and EATLP. During the period 1992-2000 he was senior manager at Coopers&Lybrand and PwC and he has been managing partner at Associated Business Advisors since 2001. Radu is the chairman of the Romanian branch of the International Fiscal Association (IFA) and a scientific consultant for the insolvency magazine Phoenix, published by the National Union of Insolvency Practitioners and for the Romanian Business Law Magazine. Radu is the author of 2 books and more than 20 articles on the matter of insolvency and fiscal law.
  • Image

    HON. LEIF M. CLARK

    Judge, World Bank
    Judge Leif Clark served as a bankruptcy judge for the Western District of Texas for over 25 years, retiring at the end of 2012. During his time on the bench, he published over 300 decisions, many considered to be seminal, on a wide spectrum of insolvency issues, both corporate and consumer. He has been a frequent speaker and lecturer throughout the U.S., and has published a number of academic papers on insolvency issues. Judge Clark presided over one of the earlier cross-border matters, Inverworld, involving four nations, guiding the case to a successful resolution. He also served on the ALI Transnational Law Project (involving Canada, Mexico and the U.S.), and was a member of the U.S. delegation to Working Group V of UNCITRAL from 2005 through 2013. He is a contributing author to Collier, the leading bankruptcy treatise in the U.S., authoring a chapter on Chapter 15 (the U.S. enactment of the Model Law on Cross Border Insolvency). His publications and writings have been cited at the circuit level in matters involving cross-border insolvency. Judge Clark has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law, as well as at the McGeorge International LLM program in Salzburg, Austria. He also assisted in the design of and later administered a judicial training program for judges in the CEE countries, on behalf of USAID in the late 1990’s. He personally co-led training programs in Latvia, Poland, Romania and Ukraine, involving a total of over 200 judges. Judge Clark is a member (and past executive committee member) of the National Bankruptcy Conference, the American College of Bankruptcy, the American Bankruptcy Institute (past officer and member of the executive committee), INSOL International, and the International Insolvency Institute.
  • Image
    Elisabetta Capannelli, World Bank Country Manager, delivering opening remarks at the ROSC conference.
  • Image
    Adrian Bordea, President of the National Council of Magistracy, speaking about the judicial reform needed based on ROSC recommendations in the opening of the ROSC Conference (at his right - Liviu-Bogdan Ciucă, Head of the Legal Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, chair of the conference, and on his left – Leif Clark, ex-Judge World Bank senior expert.
  • Image
    Minister of Justice, Robert Marius Cazanciuc, delivers his opening speech at the ROSC conference.
  • Image
    Participants at the ROSC conference watch to the speakers’ presentations.
  • Image
    Part of the consortium team – Simona Milos, Florin Motiu, Irina Sarcane, Sorin David, Radu Bufan - deliver their presentation on the new insolvency law.
  • Image
    Prof. Radu Bufan and Cristian Răvăşilă, PwC, deliver their presentation on the economic principles for syndic judges.
  • Image
    Leif Clark talks about the challenges for judges in the new Insolvency Code.
  • Image
    Judges attend the ROSC Judicial Workshop on May 28, 2014.
  • Image
    Round table as part ROSC Judicial Workshop on May 28, 2014.
  • Image
    Round table World Bank - Romanian Judiciary
  • Image
    Florin Dănescu, Executive President of the Romanian Banking Association speaks at the round-table discussion of issues and findings of the ROSC.
  • Image
    Simona Miloș, President of the National Institute for Training Practitioners in Insolvency, Member of the “Insolvency Code” Consortium Team, presents the insolvency reform.




Welcome