Appellate annulment and mandatory remand for bankruptcy declaration in insolvency cases

The High Court of Cassation and Justice, in its special panel for appeals in the interest of the law, admitted the appeal filed by the appellate court's leadership and established a binding legal interpretation: when an appellate court reviews a decision by a commercial judge that either rejected a request to declare a debtor bankrupt or confirmed a reorganization plan, it must annul the lower court’s decision and remand the case with a mandatory instruction to declare bankruptcy if specific statutory conditions are met. The dispute concerned the procedural powers of appellate courts in insolvency matters under Law No. 85/2014 and the Civil Procedure Code. The decisive legal basis relies on the interplay between Article 45(1)(a) and Article 43(7) of Law No. 85/2014, combined with Articles 480(2) and (3) of the Civil Procedure Code, which dictate that admitting such an appeal necessitates the annulment of the first-instance ruling and the compulsory transition of the debtor into bankruptcy proceedings, a rule declared obligatory for all courts pursuant to Article 517(4) of the Civil Procedure Code.