INSOL Europe Insolvency Office Holders Forum 2nd Meeting
Friday 23 September 2016, at the INSOL Europe Annucal Congress, Cascais (near Lisbon)
 
The IOH held its second open meeting prior to the conference. It was attended by officeholders, lawyers and the judiciary. The co-chairs, Marc Andre, Daniel Fritz and Stephen Harris gave an update on the activities since Berlin.
 
Activities included a thumbnail survey of the profession in twenty three European jurisdictions. The survey has illuminated the very rich diversity of the IOH profession throughout Europe. Its inception has been contemporaneous with the work of the Committee of Experts appointed to assist the EC on further insolvency reform (pre-insolvency proceedings), including an eye to the profession itself. INSOL Europe is grateful to all who contributed.
 
The co-chairs have submitted a report to the EC recommending that matters relating to the profession should best be dealt with at national level.
 
The survey (and contributors' details) and the report can be found on the website (https://www.insol-europe.org/ioh-forum-documents).
 
The forum is setting up three working groups to look in greater depth at "Transparency", "Independence" and "Fairness" in formal proceedings. The aim is to evaluate and if thought fit, provide further potential recommendations in the early spring in order to prepare at a later stage ethical standards that the EC is encouraging NGOs, like INSOL Europe, to prepare.
 
Members interested in contributing to the evaluation and debate are invited to contact Caroline Taylor or any of the co-chairs.
 
The forum has been generously supported by the law firm Edwin Coe (Simeon Gilchrist) and the French professional body CNAJMJ (Conseil National des Administrateurs Judiciaires et des Mandataires Judiciaires).