On April 3, 2026, a roundtable discussion titled “Bankruptcy of Individuals: Current Issues in Theory and Judicial Practice” was held, organized by the EU Project “Pravo-Justice” in collaboration with the Law Faculty of Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University.

Judges, arbitration administrators, academics, and lawyers gathered to discuss the initiation of insolvency proceedings, the risks of abuse of procedural rights, and the application of debt restructuring and bankruptcy procedures.

Participants paid special attention to the presentation of a scientific and practical commentary on Book Five of the Code of Ukraine on Bankruptcy Procedures.

Iryna Butyrska, co-founder and board member of the NGO METC “Pro Justice,” co-authored the commentary. During the event, she noted:

“The practice of applying bankruptcy legislation shows that some of the relevant provisions of the Code of Ukraine on Bankruptcy Procedures are formulated abstractly, others incompletely, and some do not contain a clear algorithm of actions at all. Therefore, judicial practice has become not merely a supplement to the law, but a primary guide that enables one to understand how to distinguish between a debtor’s good-faith and bad-faith conduct, how to assess the possibility of initiating a restructuring procedure, what the content of a debt restructuring plan should be, and what criteria may be applied to discharge a person from debt.”

 

The discussion was joined by the co-founder of “Pro Justice,” Chair of the Commercial Court of Luhansk Oblast, and Ph.D. in Law Olena Fonova. She focused on the topic of behavioral insolvency—when a financial crisis is the result of the debtor’s behavior.

Participants also discussed issues with current regulations and possible ways to improve them.