Bankruptcy tourism within Russia: issues of jurisdiction in personal bankruptcy cases

Abstract

The paper analyzes the practice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in countering bankruptcy tourism of citizens. The paper considers the cases with the criteria for jurisdiction of personal bankruptcy in Russia, and employs the category of the center of main interests of the debtor known to foreign law order. The author shows the difference between the jurisdictional links in Russia and the EU in cases of personal bankruptcy, and general and specific in the presumptions that determine the jurisdiction factors. The paper provides the Russian definition of bankruptcy tourism defined by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation for cases when a debtor-citizen 'manipulates' the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy case to transfer its consideration to the region where the debtor does not actually live, and shows the legal consequences of these actions in court proceedings. According to the author, in terms of Russian law, the practice of combating bankruptcy tourism does not imply the refusal to protect the rights which a person is abusing, it is based on the specifics of proving the jurisdiction factor – the place of residence of the debtor. The author argues the relevance of the European experience in regulating cross-border insolvency for improving the Russian legislation on bankruptcy.