The assessment team interviewed a crosssection of country stakeholders regarding the effectivenessof the legal infrastructure, and its implementationsupporting debtor-creditor relationships, corporateinsolvency and credit risk management, and resolutionpractices, including among others, members of theInter-Agency Commission for the preparation of a newinsolvency law, and members of the drafting team for the newcollateral law; and, various professionals serving astrustees, executors, lawyers and accountants also providedtheir input. The conclusions in this assessment are basedlargely on the above interviews, a review of applicablelegislation, data and information, various reports preparedby the Bank between 1999-2001, and other reports or analysespertaining to the areas assessed, including the project onthe new collateral legislation, and registration system forpledges (charges). Some laws unavailable in English at thetime were discussed in a number of meetings withinstitutions, and professionals in the public, and privatesectors, and, translations have been requested forfollow-up. In addition, at least three commercial banksprovided responses to a questionnaire pertaining to creditrisk management, and corporate recovery practices withrespect to distressed assets. Policy recommendations onCreditors' rights and enforcement procedures needdevelopment as follows: rules or legislation on sufficiencyof security/transfer/ownership documents should bepromulgated to remove the discretion of the land registry,and prevent delay of transactions due to refusals ofdistrict land registry offices to register documents;auction procedures should be refined to allow for morerealistic minimum bids, more transparent andcorruption-resistant procedures, and less court involvement;debtor mechanisms for delaying enforcement of theircreditors' rights should be reduced, and in many caseseliminated. Debtor's rights can be protected throughsummary proceedings, in a different forum dedicated toroutine debt enforcement; and, enforcement of first, but notfinal judgments should be allowed subject to posting ofappropriate bond. In addition; the Bankruptcy Law should befurther amended to include mandatory deadlines, withtime-bound procedures, to avoid the decimation of assetvalue over time. The moratorium on creditor action should beeffective from the time of filing the petition, and the stayon secured creditors counter-balanced by safeguards toprotect, and preserve the value of a separatecreditors' interest in collateral from deteriorating invalue. Creditors' committee meetings should be convenedwithin 30 days of petition filing, and creditors'powers to supervise dealings of the trustee, should be better.
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