The Supreme Court expressed its position on the jurisdiction of the application for disclosure of banking secrecy regarding the debtor in a bankruptcy case

An application for disclosure by a bank of information containing banking secrecy, submitted by a controlling authority in the procedure of separate proceedings with reference to the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, is not subject to consideration by the commercial court within the debtor's bankruptcy case, since such claims are non-property in nature, do not affect the composition of the liquidation estate, and are not covered by the list of disputes defined by Article 7 of the Law on Bankruptcy Procedures and Article 20 of the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine. This conclusion was made by the Cassation Economic Court of the Supreme Court on 08.04.2026 in case No. 908/2417/25.

Within the bankruptcy case of a Subsidiary Enterprise undergoing liquidation procedure, the controlling authority applied to the commercial court with a request for disclosure by the bank of information containing banking secrecy regarding this enterprise. The purpose of this request was the necessity for the tax service to conduct an unscheduled inspection regarding the timeliness and completeness of tax accruals and compliance with currency and tax legislation.

The local commercial court refused to open proceedings in the case, which was upheld by the appellate court. The courts stated the absence of grounds for applying concentration of disputes in the bankruptcy case (Article 7 of the Law on Bankruptcy Procedures), since the claims concern disclosure of information by the bank under the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine and do not affect the protection or realization of the debtor's property rights.

COURT'S ASSESSMENT

Disclosure by a bank of information containing banking secrecy about legal entities and individuals is carried out in the procedure of separate proceedings (paragraph 11 of part 2 of Article 293 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine).

According to part 1 of Article 293 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, separate proceedings is a type of non-contentious civil proceedings, in which civil cases are considered to confirm the presence or absence of legal facts that are significant for the protection of rights, freedoms, and interests of a person or for creating conditions for the exercise of personal non-property or property rights or confirmation of the presence or absence of indisputable rights.

Determining the nature of the disputed legal relations in this case, the courts of previous instances correctly noted that they concern disclosure by a bank of information containing banking secrecy, in accordance with the provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On Banks and Banking Activities" and the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, in particular Chapter 12 of Section IV of this Code, which regulates the procedure for courts to consider such applications. Thus, the consideration of such applications is carried out in the procedure of civil proceedings.

At the same time, the Cassation Economic Court of the Supreme Court emphasized that in insolvency relations, the legal regulation of certain issues that belong to the subject, personal, and territorial (exclusive) jurisdiction of disputes in bankruptcy cases (Articles 20, 30 of the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine) is determined by a special norm — Article 7 of the Law on Bankruptcy Procedures.

Part 2 of this article establishes the exclusive competence of the commercial court to consider all property disputes involving the debtor, as this approach guarantees effective management of the liquidation estate and prevents violation of creditors' rights by closing bankruptcy proceedings before the completion of relevant court processes.

As correctly established by the courts of previous instances, the claims filed by the controlling authority are not subject to valuation and are non-property in nature, and the results of their consideration will not affect the size or composition of the debtor's liquidation estate. Moreover, these claims do not fall within the jurisdiction of commercial courts as defined by Article 20 of the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine, and therefore there are no grounds to extend the special jurisdiction of bankruptcy cases to them.

If an application is not subject to consideration under the rules of commercial proceedings, according to Article 175 of the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine, the judge refuses to open proceedings in the case.

In view of the above, there are no grounds for canceling the appealed court decisions in this case.

The full text of the ruling of the Commercial Cassation Court of the Supreme Court dated 08.04.2026 in case No. 908/2417/25 can be found at this link.

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