The adjudication by a local commercial court of an application to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against a publicly owned enterprise has exposed several critical issues concerning the application of the Bankruptcy Code of Ukraine. This case also revealed challenges in the legal regulation and statutory definition of the legal status of enterprises jointly owned by territorial communities, as well as legal entities governed by public law.

The analysis focuses on problematic aspects such as the legal regime governing joint communal ownership, the property status of such enterprises, the organizational and legal principles underlying their activities, and the scope of authority and accountability of local self-government bodies – at the village, settlement, city, district, and regional levels – in managing, reorganizing, and liquidating such entities. Particular attention is given to the issue of whether such entities may be subject to bankruptcy proceedings.

The relevance of this study stems from a practical case in which a regional council unilaterally decided the fate of a legal entity jointly owned by local communities – namely, it decided to liquidate a regional healthcare facility without involving local councils in this process to ensure representation of all interested territorial communities, and demanded that bankruptcy and liquidation legislation be applied to such a legal entity.

Are these relations sufficiently regulated by current legislation? Can it be asserted that the interests of all territorial communities in a district or region are adequately represented respected, and not violated? Does a regional council possess the authority to unilaterally liquidate healthcare institutions managed on behalf of multiple communities?

The author aims to explore these issues and identify the legal problems they raise with the aim of contributing to the development of coherent legal approaches to public ownership and bankruptcy in Ukraine.

Bibliography

Edited books

1. Ustymenko V (red), Publichna vlasnist: problemy teorii i praktyky (Desna Polihraf 2014) (in Ukrainian).

Journal articles

2. Krupchan O, ‘Publichna sfera i pravo publichnoi vlasnosti’ [2017] 17 Pryvatne pravo i pidpryiemnytstvo 8 (in Ukrainian).