Minutes of the National Court Work Conference on Bankruptcy Trials Issued by the Supreme People's Court

• Author: Lin Ziyu
• Pages: 160-166

3.1 CLU1_LIN ZIYU.DOC (DO NOT DELETE) 2018/12/21 3:51 PM

160 TSINGHUA CHINA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 11:159

MINUTES OF THE NATIONAL COURT WORK CONFERENCE

ON BANKRUPTCY TRIALS ISSUED BY THE SUPREME

PEOPLE’S COURT

Lin Ziyu

I. INTRODUCTION

On December 25, 2017, the Supreme People’s Court of the

People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) convened the National Court

Work Conference on Bankruptcy Trials in Shenzhen, Guangdong

Province. Representatives from higher people’s courts of all

provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities attended the

conference and reached a consensus on major issues concerning

bankruptcy trials. Minutes of the conference were issued by the

Supreme People’s Court on March 4, 2018, which have become

authoritative guidelines for bankruptcy judicial practice in China.

The economic reform in China demands the improvement of

bankruptcy law. Under the pressure of economic downturn, China

launched economic reform to reduce the excess capacity and shut

down “zombie enterprises”, which persistently incurred financial

losses but continued to operate in the market.1 The crackdown of

zombie firms consequently increased the amount and complexity of

bankruptcy cases in Chinese courts. The Enterprise Bankruptcy Law,

which was promulgated a decade ago, could no longer meet the

demands of judicial practice. Therefore, the Supreme Court held a

national conference and addressed prominent problems in

bankruptcy trials. An analysis of several key provisions detailed

within the minutes of the conference is provided below.

II. IMPROVEMENT OF THE ADMINISTRATOR SYSTEM

Administrators are the major promoters of bankruptcy procedure

and the specific executors of bankruptcy matters. In the bankruptcy

process, the administrators are responsible for managing assets,

designing restructuring plans and organizing the creditors’ meetings.

1 Guowuyuan Guanyu Huajie Channeng Yanzhong Guosheng Maodun de Zhidao Yijian (国务院

关于化解产能严重过剩矛盾的指导意见) [The State Council’s Guiding Opinion on Eliminating

Severe Excess Capacity] (promulgated by the St. Council, Oct. 15, 2013, effective Oct. 1 5, 2013)

(Chinalawinfo).