PERSONAL BANKRUPTCY AND THE ROMANIAN REALITIES

Abstract

Bankruptcy is defined as the legal situation in which an individual, a company or an institution cannot meet outstanding liabilities, which are superior in value compared to available assets. Personal bankruptcy refers to the situation described above in the case of individuals. This highly important legal and economic institution was long ago settled in the United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and recently in former communist countries such as Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, existing throughout the EU, except for Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. In December 2015, in Romania, the Personal Bankruptcy Law is to come into force and this article focuses on the main aspects of the three steps procedure comprised in it as well as on the advantages and disadvantages from all involved parts perspective, that is: individual debtors, Banks as creditors and state institutions as third parties highlighting the main changes that are to happen both for individuals as well as for the society as a whole.