Terms applicable during recognition of debtor’s laws invalidity in bankruptcy procedure

Abstract

The Code of Ukraine on Bankruptcy Procedure (hereinafter – the Code of Bankruptcy) has newly regulated a number of institutions of insolvency law (bankruptcy), including changes affecting the institution of invalidation of the debtor’s transactions. Article 42 of the Code of Bankruptcy provides for the grounds on which transactions entered into by the debtor after the opening of bankruptcy proceedings or during the three years preceding the opening of bankruptcy proceedings may be declared invalid by the commercial court within the bankruptcy case.
 The purpose of the article is to reveal the peculiarities of the application of deadlines in declaring the debtor’s transactions invalid in the bankruptcy case, identify problematic aspects that arise during the application of the statute of limitations and “suspicious period” in the bankruptcy case, identify common and distinctive features of these deadlines.
 According to the results of the study, the author concludes that considering cases of invalidation of the debtor’s transactions in the bankruptcy case, the Commercial Court applies both the general provisions on statute of limitations under civil law and a special three-year period under Art. 42 of the Code of Bankruptcy. The term provided by Art. 42 of the Code of Bankruptcy, which in the theory of the tender process is called the “suspicious period”, at first glance, may resemble the statute of limitations, but differs significantly from it. First, the statute of limitations is the period of time allowed to a person to go to court to protect his violated right, and the “suspicious period” determines the period of time during which the commercial court evaluates the debtor’s transactions in terms of good faith and solvency. the debtor. Secondly, the beginning of the limitation period is the moment when a person learned or could have learned about the violation of his right, while the key to counting the period of “suspicious period” is the date of the opening of bankruptcy proceedings. Third, the statute of limitations under certain conditions may be interrupted, suspended, renewed, while the three-year period provided for in Art. 42 of the Code of Bankruptcy, is curtailed, clearly defined, and is not subject to renewal.