Last week I blogged that the Dutch courts appeared to be the first court in a EU Member State to disclose that it is open for cross-border communication and cooperation in insolvency cases under the aegis of the EU Insolvency Regulation (recast), see blog/2017-07-doc3-does-district-court-midden-nederland-lead-the-way. I stressed the importance of available EU Cross-border Insolvency Court-to-Court Cooperation Principles and Guidelines (also “JudgeCo” Principles and Guidelines), available via www.universiteitleiden.nl.
However, the Swedish court may even be the first! Early July the Swedish National Courts Administration approached me on the topic and at their request I assisted, referring to the JudgeCo Principles and Guidelines. The spokesperson later did send me the link that contains – she wrote – some short information about the new insolvency EU-regulation, including a link to www.tri-leiden.eu website and the JudgeCo principles and guidelines, see intranatet.dom.se/Malhantering/Konkursarenden/Insolvensforordningen. It is, however a closed intranet-site, so I can not verify the information.
This is a pity, as for instance a court in Poland or in the Netherlands or insolvency practitioners in a case in Sweden, the debtor of which is also subject to parallel insolvency proceedings in Finland, may be in doubt as to which (non-binding) rules Swedish courts may choose to apply in cross-border situations. To be able to anticipate that a court will follow the JudgeCo Principles and Guidelines will enhance (for foreign courts, IPs and creditors) trust and predictability in the Swedish courts in handling these matters and promote efficient and timely action.
Evidently, it is a matter for the government of Sweden or its courts respectively to make its support for the use of the JudgeCo Principles and Guidelines public. Some countries (I know of Germany, Spain and Hungary) have translated the JudgeCo Principles and Guidelines, a country to firmly send out a positive message may lead to others to follow, which certainly will mean an important step to establish best practices in the meaning of recital 48 EIR 2015. The Netherlands, (possibly) Sweden, which one is next?