The law governing the effects of foreign insolvency proceedings on lawsuits pending in the home forum

The issue of the legal consequences of the recognition of insolvency proceedings pending abroad is a central feature of cross-border insolvency regimes and will represent an unavoidable question in crafting an EU legal instrument addressing the treatment Third Countries' insolvency proceedings. A specific facet of this question is addressed in this chapter, namely the consequence of the recognition of a foreign insolvency proceeding on lawsuits pending in the recognising jurisdiction, specifically lawsuits where claims against the insolvent are matter of dispute. It is submitted that, as part of the regime of coordination between the procedures for claims' verification within the insolvency proceedings, and these lawsuits, the regulation of the effects of the opening of an insolvency proceedings on pending lawsuits requires a careful delimitation between the remit of the lex fori concursus, as defined in article 7 EIR, and that of the lex fori processus referred to in article 18 EIR. A refinement of the boundaries between the two leges is particularly necessary regardless that the scope of article 18 EIR is broadened as to cover the effects of recognition of insolvency proceedings going on outside the EU, or article 2% MLCBI is enacted, given the wide array of solutions to the coordination problem followed by jurisdictions around the world. It is further submitted that improvements in the current regime may be simply achieved by way of interpretation of the existing EIR text, rather its amendment.