The Association
Starting with its predecessor organisation, the Association, founded in 2004, can look back on decades of history. Professional insolvency administrators met regularly to mutually exchange experiences as far back as the 1970s. This enabled them very early on to influence the various legal initiatives and especially the Insolvency Statute enacted on 1 January 1999.While the exchange of experiences was the main focus of the Associations work in the early years, the adoption of the Insolvency Statute has increasingly seen the Association dealing in the mediation of job-related issues in the public sphere and representation of interested parties vis-à-vis lawmakers, ministries and justice. Recognition of the insolvency administrator profession as an independent profession by the Federal Constitutional Court (2004) has expressly placed the business activities of insolvency administrators under the protection of Article 12 of the German Federal Constitution, thereby legally acknowledging the long-time development towards professionalization of insolvency administration.
The VID’s more than 450 members have set as their goal the provision of independent, transparent, high-quality insolvency administration that goes far beyond the basic legal requirements. This goal is anchored in the binding obligation of all members to obtain and maintain certification according to ISO:9001 and especially to act according to the “Principles of Proper Insolvency Administration” (Grundsätze ordnungsgemäßer Insolvenzverwaltung) (GOI).
The quality standards set by the VID and its efforts to provide insolvency administration aimed at restructuring should help increase acceptance of the insolvency process among the public and all those involved. Therefore, we regularly get involved in the public discussion on the further development of insolvency-related restructuring and insolvency law and are frequently called upon as an expert dialogue partner at federal and regional level. Notably, more than 20 associations participated in the Berlin Declaration on Restructuring and Insolvency (Berliner Erklärung zur Sanierung und Insolvenz) in October 2011 upon being invited to do so by the VID. This marked the first time that not only the groups immediately involved in the insolvency process but also employer associations, employee associations and social insurance agencies could be gathered around one table for the purposes of cooperating on the promotion of an insolvency process aimed at restructuring.
