Lecture V

Video 5 (out of 8)
Recognition and Enforcement: Do Judgements Travel? – Summary
Presenters: Defne Taşman & Bob Wessels

This fifth video explains recognition and enforcement under the European Insolvency Regulation. Once insolvency proceedings are opened in one Member State, the question is how that judgment travels across the EU and what effects it produces elsewhere.

The video explains that the Regulation creates a two-step structure.

The first step would be to check whether the judgment falls within the Regulation. Any judgment opening insolvency proceedings by a court with jurisdiction under Article 3 must be recognized in all other Member States from the moment it becomes effective in the State where proceedings were opened. Such a proceeding must be listed on Annex A. Therefore, the main rule is automatic recognition. This reflects the Regulation’s foundation of mutual trust between Member States’ legal systems. Recognition is not limited only to the opening judgment. Related judgments may also be recognized.

The video then explains the effects of recognition by describing the “extension model”: the effects of the opening State’s insolvency law extend across the EU. This remains subject to the possibility of secondary proceedings being opened elsewhere.

The video then turns to enforcement. Judgments relating to the opening, conduct and closure of insolvency proceedings are enforced according to the system of the Brussels I bis Regulation. However, enforcement itself remains governed by the law of the enforcing State.

The second step is to ask whether the public policy exception applies. A Member State may refuse recognition or enforcement if the effects would be manifestly contrary to its public policy. This is a narrow exception.

Overall, the video shows that the Regulation strongly favors the free movement of insolvency judgments across the EU, with public policy acting as a narrow safety valve.

Further Reading

• Bob Wessels and Defne Taşman, The European Insolvency Regulation: An Essential Guide (Edward Elgar Publishing forthcoming 2026) (Elgar Practical Guides)
• Reinhard Bork and Kristin van Zwieten (eds.), Commentary on The European Insolvency Regulation, Oxford University Press, 2nd ed. (2022)
• Insolvency Regulation 1346/2000: Council Regulation (EC) No 1346/2000 of 29 May 2000 on Insolvency Proceedings [2000] OJ L160/1
• Insolvency Regulation 2015/848: Regulation (EU) 2015/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on Insolvency Proceedings (Recast) [2015] OJ L141/19, consolidated version (6 November 2025)
• Brussels I bis Regulation 1215/2012: Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (recast), [2012] OJ L 351/1, consolidated version (26 February 2015)
• Virgos-Schmit Report 1996: Virgos, Miguel and Schmit, Etienne. (1996) Report on the Convention on Insolvency Proceedings. [EU Council of the EU Document]
• Bochan v. Ukraine (no. 2) [GC], no. 22251/08, ECHR 2015
• Zavodnik v. Slovenia, no. 53723/13, judgment of 21 May 2015, final 21 August 2015
• Cipolletta v. Italy, no. 38259/09, judgment of 11 January 2018, final 11 April 2018