CERIL

The 6th CERIL Annual Conference took place on Thursday, 13 November 2025, online. After the previous successful annual conferences, the theme of the sixth conference was to discuss key developments within CERIL’s own working parties and the ongoing EU-level initiative for a Directive harmonizing insolvency law.

The conference kicked off with a discussion of the new project proposed by Working Party (WP) 16 on Crypto-assets (chaired by Prof. Paula Moffatt and Prof. Dominik Skauradszun). WP 16 completed its first report analysing the treatment of crypto-assets in insolvency law in October 2023. The first report explored the scope of the European Insolvency Regulation Recast in relation to crypto-assets. The new project will examine the implications of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) for insolvency law. It has two main areas of focus: first, how the MiCAR mechanism for asset segregation will work in practice to protect clients in the event of an insolvency; and second, how clients will be protected on insolvency if there is a shortfall in the assets held on their behalf. The project will develop proposals aimed at strengthening legal certainty and harmonised protection for users of crypto-asset services in the event of a custodian or issuer insolvency.

Working Party (WP) 13 on Confidentiality, Secrecy and Privilege (chaired by Prof. Bob Wessels and Prof. Ignacio Tirado) has issued three Reports in the last years, in May 2022, September 2023, and September 2025. The first two Reports address the position of debtors and insolvency practitioners when dealing with confidential or privileged information. The most recent Report, “The Position of Judges”, explores how courts approach confidentiality and privilege questions in insolvency proceedings and seeks to identify common principles that could guide future best practices.

The final part of the Conference was dedicated to examining the ongoing work on the proposed EU Insolvency Directive, often referred to as the “Insolvency III Directive.” This initiative aims to harmonise selected aspects of insolvency law across the EU and to improve the efficiency and predictability of procedures. The Conference also addressed some remaining gaps and practical questions surrounding this proposal, including the absence of a common EU definition of insolvency, the uncertainties surrounding the personal liability of directors, and the need for clearer safeguards for workers in the context of pre-pack proceedings.

Acknowledgments and Full Conference Report
CERIL thanks all speakers, contributors, and participants for their active engagement and thoughtful contributions.
The full conference report prepared by Anhelina Andrieieva is available here.