Appeal against fraudulent actions of a debtor under the legislation of Ukraine and other countries: comparative analysis

The article is devoted to a comparative legal analysis of the appeal of the debtor’s transactions and property actions within the bankruptcy case, which caused harm to creditors. The first legislative regulation of the institution of appeal of fraudulent transactions, as well as practical and scientific developments, can be seen since the times of Roman law. Later, this institution began to be actively implemented in many countries of modern Europe. In Ukraine, the relevant regulation was enshrined in the Law of Ukraine «On Bankruptcy» in 1992, however, this institution has become widely used only in recent years. The article analyzes the primary sources, namely the relevant rules of the Bankruptcy Section of the US Code, Book VI of the French Commercial Code, the German Bankruptcy Code and the Polish Bankruptcy Act and compares the legal regulation of the relevant institutions with the norms of Ukrainian legislation. It has been established that the regulation of the institution for appeal of fraudulent transactions in Ukraine corresponds to global developments and trends, makes it possible to protect effectively the violated rights of creditors and ensure the achievement of the goals of the bankruptcy procedure. The progressive aspects of Ukrainian law have been identified, in particular, granting creditors of the right to appeal fraudulent transactions in a bankruptcy case, in contrast to the legislation of the studied countries, where this is the exclusive competence of the arbitration administrator. Increasing the number of initiators maximally contributes to legitimate bankruptcy procedures, since the legal position of a creditor who does not influence the appointment of an arbitration administrator may differ significantly, and limiting his right to defense negatively affects the satisfaction of creditors’ demands. The possibility of the reception of certain elements of legal regulation of relevant relations is also coxnsidered, in particular, the determination of special conditions for extending the suspicious period in exceptional cases. The author, taking into account foreign experience, proposed to establish the possibility of increasing the specified period by establishing an exclusive list of exceptional cases when the term may be extended in order to protect the interests of creditors and counteract abuse by unscrupulous debtors.