China’s Bankruptcy Administrator Selection System Under The Business Enabling Environment Report

The “Regulations on Optimizing the Business Environment,” which came into effect on January 1,2020,proposed to improve the legal guarantees,benchmarking international advanced levels,and create a stable,fair,transparent,and predictable environment f or various market entities to invest and start businesses.The indicators for handling bankruptcy cases have been mentioned in both Doing Business Report(DB)and the more advanced report system called the Business Enabling Environment Report(BEE).The two indicators have strong guiding significance for China’s bankruptcy administrator selection system.Although the BEE report will not be released until April 2024,China can still examine the gap between its administrator selection system and the good practices based on the current work progress.This paper provides suggestions for improving the administrator selection system accordingly.The first part is about the bankruptcy administrator selection system in the “Business Insolvency” topic of the BEE report.This part introduces the advancements in the BEE report,and the predicted focus of evaluating the bankruptcy administrator system based on the“Business Insolvency” indicators in the BEE.The second part is the legislative status and practice of the bankruptcy administrator selection system in China.This part summarizes the legislative status and practices of the appointment of administrators in China related to the “Business Insolvency” indicators in the BEE.The third part is an analysis of the China’s scores of “Resolving Insolvency” topic about the selection system of administrators.China’s administrator selection system has a single main body for administrator selection,inadequate representation of creditors’ opinions,incomplete requirements for administrator selection and lack of supervision of administrator’s qualifications.The fourth part proposes suggestions for improving the appointment system for administrators in China,based on the gap between China and the “Business Insolvency”indicators,and in combination with the existing practices of various provinces in China regarding the selection system for administrators.Firstly,while adding creditors as the main body of administrator selection,the efficiency of court-appointed administrators should also be reflected.Alternatively,a new method could be introduced where creditors an d debtors negotiate and agree on the appointment of administrators,with major creditors being involved in the selection process.Secondly,the positive requirements for the appointment of administrator should be clearly stipulated,and the administrator of social intermediary should be included in the practice liability insurance.Thirdly,the provincial bankruptcy administrator associations are responsible for the preparation and adjustment of the administrator roste r.