Foreign creditors’ rights in UK insolvencies

This post was prompted by the following question on LawGuru.com:

Can someone outside of the European Union start Bankruptcy Proceedings in Great Britain or make a claim in existing British Bankruptcy Proceeedings against an Individual or a Company?

The short answer is “Yes, and yes”!

Foreign creditors are fully recognised in the UK jurisdictions of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and, whilst they may benefit from local professional assistance, they can certainly present insolvency petitions and claim in UK insolvencies.

These existing rights were confirmed in England and Wales and in Scotland by The Cross-Border Insolvency Regulations 2006 (and Northern Ireland is planning to introduce similar regulations during 2007):

Article 13. Access of foreign creditors to a proceeding under British insolvency law

1. Subject to paragraph 2 of this article, foreign creditors have the same rights regarding the commencement of, and participation in, a proceeding under British insolvency law as creditors in Great Britain.
2. Paragraph 1 of this article does not affect the ranking of claims in a proceeding under British insolvency law, except that the claim of a foreign creditor shall not be given a lower priority than that of general unsecured claims solely because the holder of such a claim is a foreign creditor.
3. A claim may not be challenged solely on the grounds that it is a claim by a foreign tax or social security authority but such a claim may be challenged