The NRW Justice Portal:  I. Initiation

Co-operation and exchange of experience on the international level are equally necessary in the area of insolvency law as worthwhile: 

Like the commercial law in general, the insolvency law in particular is an area with pronounced international references and international provenance. The new German Insolvency Act for example absorbed substantial thoughts of foreign insolvency law systems. In the context of the insolvency law reform experiences and regulations from the U.S.A., Austria, England, France and numerous further states were evaluated. They affected the German law considerably. Also the national law is increasingly overlaid directly by international, above all European law. An outstanding example is the European Insolvency Regulation.

Not only in Germany, but world-wide intensified efforts are observed concerning the reform of the national and the international insolvency law. The insolvency law is to that extent a sensitive seismograph for changes of world and national economics. In particular the increasing globalization of the world economy and the introduction of the free-market economy in the Eastern European states require new insolvency concepts and answers. They are the engines of the reform-wave, which is to be noticed at present. Since the confidence of potential investors and banks depends considerably on an effective and functioning system of the realization of claims and liability in the financial crisis of debtors, in the "emerging markets" almost a race has begun for the "best" insolvency system. In Eastern Europe there is hardly a country, in which not recently or at present drastic reforms of the insolvency law are planned and/or already implemented. The same applies to many Western European countries. International organizations accompany these developments and give assistance. UNCITRAL has made a model law for transnational insolvencies, which has been adopted in several states. The World Bank developed "Principles and Guidelines for Effective Insolvency and Creditor Rights Systems". And INSOL INTERNATIONAL has published a "Statement of Principles". 

Due to the world-wide reform movement in the last years in the area of insolvency law an enormous need of exchange of experience and information developed. Innumerable large conferences with different personnel and national composition were organized. They suffer quite often from the phenomenon of a data flood, which hardly can be reflected and filtered regarding its relevance for the own insolvency law. Opportunities for a really fruitful exchange of thoughts and information often result from the talks at the side of the conferences. It were these experiences, which gave birth to the idea of a new communication forum. In the year 2000 the Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia created an informal, but durable information- and discussion-network, the "International Exchange of Experience on Insolvency Law (IEEI)". The participants of the IEEI communicate via E-Mail and an internet-based forum. Since most of them know each other personally, a high guarantee exists for direct and reliable responses to inquiries and to offers of discussions. 

The personal and professional contact is the core, which holds the network together. It is deepened by annual colloquia. During these talks several members of the IEEI participate personally, in order to discuss intensively problems of the national and international insolvency law among themselves and online with the other colleagues.