Lawmakers approved a new bankruptcy act on 22 January with 54 votes in favor in the 101-seat legislature, BNS reported the next day. The government had proposed the legislation, which is aimed at speeding up bankruptcy proceedings and making supervision of trustees more effective.

The new law reduces the number of stages in which creditors are entitled to payments from bankrupt estates, establishes a limit on the extent to which holders of secured claims must cover the cost of proceedings, and introduces special terms for bankruptcy proceedings for individuals.

Backers say it also offers an improved framework for the recovery of companies facing insolvency, rather than liquidation, and provides more clearly defined rules for preventing abuses by people involved in bankruptcy proceedings.

(RFE/RL 31.i.03)