Creditor’s Right to Information in Corporate Bankruptcy Proceedings

A creditor’s right to information in corporate bankruptcy proceedings is coupled with an effective use of other rights and participation in the decision-making process. A concrete model of information provision (directly or indirectly; individually or through a creditor meeting) depends on the national regulation of corporate bankruptcy proceedings. Such information shall be interpreted broadly, including not only data that are directly related to the corporate bankruptcy proceedings, but also information related to the debtor’s commercial activities, contracts, and assets. A creditor meeting decides how creditors can get information. Such a decision shall be not discriminate creditors and unproportionally burden the bankruptcy administrator. Nevertheless, a creditor’s right to information can be lawfully restricted. For instance, creditors may be required to sign a promise of confidentiality and use information only for legitimate purposes in the bankruptcy proceedings. The costs incurred by a bankruptcy administrator in providing creditors with the requested information shall not to be considered as administrative costs and each creditor shall bear the actual cost. The new regulation of corporate bankruptcy (insolvency) proceedings, which enters into force on 1 January, 2020, will not amend creditors’ right to information significantly. Nevertheless, the new law establishes the principle of transparency (Lith. skaidrumo principas), which recognizes the importance of information in corporate insolvency proceedings and establishes some exceptions in the application of this general principle (the protection of personal information and trade secrets)