IPA CIS Working Group Approved Draft Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency

On 26 February 2026, Tavricheskiy Palace hosted a meeting of the IPA CIS Working Group on the development of the draft Model law on Cross-Border Insolvency and Bankruptcy under the chairmanship of Rector of the Russian-Tajik (Slavic) University Mashrab Faizullo. The discussion involved MPs of the CIS Member Nations, as well as leading experts in the field of law and crisis management.

An important stage of the meeting was the report by Regional Partner of Horizons Advisory Roberto Gilardino, who analyzed China’s experience in regulating bankruptcy procedures. The expert emphasized the need for a transition to the active formation of bilateral judicial protocols and the adaptation of international standards to national conditions. In turn, Deputy Head of the Working Group, Deputy Head of the Department of Legal Regulation of Business, Faculty of Law, National Research University Higher School of Economics Elena Mokhova shared the outcomes of her participation in UNCITRAL sessions on the preparation of international model laws in this field.

Meeting participants discussed specific proposals for finalizing the document. First Deputy Chair of the Committee of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Nikolay Vladimirov noted that the law would become an important step in the harmonization of CIS legislation and the protection of creditors’ interests, but called for a more precise definition of the criteria for the “center of main interests of the debtor” to exclude jurisdictional disputes.

To date, the main provisions of the draft Model law on Cross-Border Insolvency and Bankruptcy have been formulated. In the process of working on the document, two models for regulating cross-border bankruptcy processes have been developed — an international legal model with the definition of the concept of “centre of main interests” and a simplified recognition model, which can be applied on the basis of international treaties. The draft law is at an advanced stage of readiness.