FIGHTING RECESSION AT THE EXPENSE OF ACCESS TO JUSTICE - THE CASE OF CROATIAN FINANCIAL OPERATIONS AND PRE-BANKRUPTCY SETTLEMENTS ACT ; OSVRT NA STRUKTURU PREDSTEČAJNIH POSTUPAKA IZ ZAKONA O FINANCIJSKOM POSLOVANJU I PREDSTEČAJNOJ NAGODBI

It is hard to remember when the last time was that one legal document raised asmuch controversy among legal and economic experts, entrepreneurs and widerpublic as it is the case with the Act on Financial Operations and Pre-BankruptcySettlements (AFOPS). As stated by the Croatian Government at the time of itsdelivery, the primary aim of the pre-bankruptcy (or insolvency) settlementproceedings was to help troubled companies to revitalize their businesses, keepjobs and to help creditors to recover their claims in a larger proportion than itwould be possible if standard bankruptcy proceedings were applied to troubledcompanies. The fact that two different organs, one professional and one juridicalhave been conducting pre-bankruptcy settlement proceedings in different stagesgives rise to different questions in relation to the right to a fair trial and accessto courts as guaranteed by the European Convention for Protection of HumanRights and its related case law. In particular, we shall discuss whether PBScommittees constituted “tribunals” in the Conventional context and whetherEuropean Convention allows the prior intervention of professional bodies indisputes over civil rights and obligations. Last, but not least, we need to checkthe powers and the role of commercial courts in confi rming the settlementagreements, bearing in mind that only if the access to a court with full jurisdictionis ensured, the lawfulness of the procedure is provided and secured ; Teško je prisjetiti se kada je jedan zakonski tekst iznjedrio više kontroverzi odZakona o fi nancijskom poslovanju i predstečajnoj nagodbi. Intencija zakonodavcaje bila jasna; pomoći trgovačkim subjektima u problemima da revitaliziraju svojeposlovanje, njihovim vjerovnicima da naplatu svojih potraživanja ostvare u većimiznosima nego što bi to bilo moguće u klasičnom stečajnom postupku te u konačnici,smatralo se da će predstečajni postupci doprinijeti očuvanju radnih mjesta.U radu se analizira struktura postupka predstečajne nagodbe te se propituje je lirješenje iz ...