破产法修订契机下对世界银行新营商环境评估规则的法律回应

On the Legal Response to World Bank's Business-Ready Assessment Rules in the Context of Bankruptcy Law Revision

世界银行新营商环境评估规则(BR)对破产指标进行了较大改变,值得我国破产法修订工作予以吸收借鉴。针对我国现行法潜在的扣分点而言,BR的评估内容聚焦于三个方面。第一,在破产程序的启动、清算、重整方面,我国破产法缺少对管理层在破产程序启动前义务的规定,需要针对企业濒临破产的界定以及义务履行的具体方式这两个问题进行制度构建。我国庭外重组规则仅存在于政策层面,需要在制度层面与庭内重整规则形成有效衔接。此外,管理人申述权不能仅局限于债权人申请更换的情形下,在法院依职权更换的情形下也应当赋予管理人申述权。第二,在债务人资产控制方面,我国破产法尚未对中止程序的例外情形进行规定。在获得信贷及优先性问题上,现行法可以允许新债权人在旧担保债权人的受益范围内获得优先权,以此平衡旧债权人、新债权人和债务人的利益。第三,在特别程序方面,BR考察小微企业破产程序和跨境破产程序。对于前者,现行法并无规定,需要从适用条件、程序转化和债务解除三个角度进行制度构建。关于后者,我国司法实践已有积极探索,立法层面却仅有原则性规定,缺乏具体操作规则,需要借鉴联合国国际贸易法委员会发布的《跨国界破产示范法》的相关内容。BR的破产指标可以让研究者事先比对,寻找我国潜在的扣分点,并借助我国破产法修订之契机予以完善,进而提升我国营商环境得分和排名,为企业营造具有获得感的法律环境。

The World Bank's Business-Ready Assessment Rules(BR)have made great changes to bankruptcy indicators,which is worthy of reference for the revision of bankruptcy law of China.BR focuses on three areas in terms of potential demerit points under the current law.Firstly,in terms of the initiation,liquidation and reorganization of bankruptcy proceedings,China's bankruptcy law lacks provisions on the obligations of management before the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings,and it is necessary to construct the system by solving the two problems of the definition of an enterprise on the verge of bankruptcy and the specific way of performing obligations.Next,China's out-of-court restructuring only exists at the policy level,and it is necessary to form the effective connection with the in-court restructuring at the institutional level.In addition,the administrator's right to be heard cannot be limited to the case of creditors'application for replacement,but should also be granted a right to be heard in the case of replacement made by the court according to power.Secondly,in terms of the control of the debtor's assets,China's bankruptcy law has not yet provided for exceptions to the suspension of proceedings,which can be based on the interests of public policy and concealing the purpose of illegal activities.On the issue of access to credit and priority,the current law may balance the interests of the old creditor,the new creditor and the enterprise as the debtor by allowing the new creditor to obtain priority to the extent of the benefit of the old secured creditor.Thirdly,in terms of special procedures,BR examines bankruptcy procedures for small and micro enterprises and crossborder bankruptcy procedures.For the former,there is no stipulation in the current law,so it is necessary to construct the system from three perspectives:application conditions,procedural transformation and debt relief.Regarding the latter,China's judicial practice has carried out proactive exploration,but there are only principled provisions at the legislative level,and there are no specific operating rules,so it is necessary to refer to the relevant content of the UNCITRAL Model Law.The bankruptcy indicators in the BR allows us to made comparison and find potential demerit points in China in advance and make improvement with the opportunity of the revision of the bankruptcy law,thereby improving the score and ranking of China's business environment,and creating a legal environment with a sense of achievement for enterprises.