The Bankruptcy (Amendment) Bill 2003 will be tabled at the Legislative Council on December 10 to facilitate the Official Receiver's Office's outsourcing of bankruptcy cases to private-sector insolvency practitioners.

The Financial Services & the Treasury Bureau said outsourcing cases will enhance the efficiency of dealing with the heavy caseload. The court has made over 22,700 bankruptcy orders this year up to October.

The bill aims to launch an outsourcing regime similar to the one in the Companies Ordinance for company liquidation cases.

The bill gives the Official Receiver the authority to appoint directly a private-sector insolvency practitioner to administer a summary bankruptcy case (where the value of the bankrupt's estate is unlikely to exceed $200,000) without the need to convene a creditors' meeting.

Insolvency practitioners in the legal and accountancy sectors appointed to provide trusteeship service for the estates of the bankrupt will be subject to the control of the court and the Official Receiver.

The insolvency practitioners will be remunerated from the assets of the estates of the bankrupt.

The bill will be Gazetted on November 28.