Chapter 15 bankruptcy laws are a set of new policies on the code dealing with financial incapability. They have been added by the bankruptcy and consumer prevention act of 2005 which replaces section 304 of the code. The main purpose of this law is to lay the strategy for dealing with insolvency cases of parties in different countries.

This promotes cooperation of courts and their officials in these different countries, it will protect the interest of all the parties involved including the debtor and it is also a platform for establishing greater legal certainty for trade and investments. It is also a means of rescuing businesses in trouble as well as protecting the debtors from unfair treatment from creditors.

The insolvency case begins with a petition being filed in the debtors country of residence by a foreign representative. Chapters 7 or 13 may act as an alternative to this chapter. Chapter 7 allows for a trustee to recoup the debtors property, sell it and pay the creditors after the debtor has filed a petition and a list of nonexempt assets. A trustee from the foreign country can be appointed to act in the debtors country. This can only apply if the property involved is complex to allow the domestic court to proceed with the case.

A petition must be accompanied by documents showing the existence of foreign proceedings after which the representative is permitted by the court to have access to the U.S courts. The recognition of the representative is only done after a court hearing has been made in the domestic courts. The bankruptcy code allows that after the hearing, the trustee can now operate the debtors business on his behalf.