[Home] [Databases] [WorldLII] [Search] [Feedback] New Zealand Law Commission

[Database Search] [Name Search] [Previous] [Next] [Download] [Help]

Preface

In October 1997 the Law Commission started a new project on the subject of international trade with the project’s first report, Electronic Commerce Part One: A Guide for the Legal and Business Community (NZLC R50) released a year later. This is the second report dealing with such issues. It asks the question whether New Zealand should adopt the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency. The Commission brought forward its work on cross-border insolvency to reflect the fact that there have been financial crises in Asia which were likely to impact adversely on New Zealand businesses engaged in trade with countries in that region. More cross-border insolvency cases are likely to arise and it is important that New Zealand have laws which are both modern and able to deal effectively and efficiently with cross-border insolvency problems.

We are grateful to the Ministry of Commerce and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand for the assistance they have provided as well as to Sachin Zodgekar of Chapman Tripp Sheffield Young, Wellington, who provided assistance with the chapter on banking issues. Further, we wish to acknowledge particular assistance by way of peer review from the Rt Hon Justice Blanchard of the Court of Appeal; PD McKenzie, Barrister, Wellington; and Michael Ross, a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Auckland. We also acknowledge assistance from overseas reviewers: RG Marantz QC of Toronto (current President of INSOL International); Professor Jay Westbrook of the University of Texas at Austin; Daniel Glosband, Goodwin Procter and Hoar, Boston, USA; Gabriel Moss QC of London, England; Associate Professor Rosalind Mason of the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba; Michael Steiner of Denton Hall, Solicitors, London; and the Hon Justice RH Zulman of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa. All of these people have extensive experience, both academic and practical, in the area of cross-border insolvency and their assistance has been gratefully received. In addition, we acknowledge the assistance of Chief Judge Burton R Lifland of New York who provided valuable guidance at a practical level on the cross-border insolvency problems encountered by the Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York.

We also express appreciation to the Joint Insolvency Committee established by the New Zealand Law Society and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand for the assistance (by way of debate on points of principle) which it has given on our proposals. A list of all persons who have assisted us appears in the acknowledgements. Draft legislation was drafted by Vivienne Wilson, formerly of the Parliamentary Counsel Office and now an associate in the Wellington office of Simpson Grierson.

The Commissioner in charge of the International Trade Law project is DF Dugdale. Paul Heath QC of Hamilton, a consultant to the Law Commission on commercial law matters, has been responsible for overseeing preparation of this report. Megan Leaf, a researcher at the Law Commission, has undertaken the research on which the report is based.