2020 was undoubtedly a massive challenge for all countries, but it was especially dramatic for Brazil, which has been severely hit by coronavirus outbreak. Among the most affected countries, Brazil is fighting one of the biggest battles of its history, with a little over 10 million cases so far and a case-fatality rate of 2.4%.

In Canadian proceedings, it had previously been common for assets of the debtor to be conveyed to a purchaser through the granting of a vesting order. Normally, the court supervising the relevant insolvency proceeding in approving the transaction would issue an order that title to the purchased assets would vest in the purchaser “free and clear” of the claims of the vendors’ creditors. Instead, the purchase price proceeds would stand in place of the purchased assets.

The term “silver lining” comes from Milton’s Comus, in which the silver lining is the light of the moon shining behind a cloud.[2] It is very difficult to find a silver lining in the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S.

Author’s Note: Australia has a debtor-in-possession insolvency system administered by insolvency practitioners.

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Working Group V has been working on a simplified insolvency regime for six sessions because “[m]icro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) (MSEs) constitute the majority of businesses in economies around the world.”[1] Its efforts are aimed at ameliorating the effects of rigid insolvency schemes that stifle the efforts of small business enterprises to reorganize.

The UNCITRAL Draft Recommendations on a simplified insolvency regime (“Recommendations”)[1] is a model of legislative regulation concerning the insolvency of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)[2]. The model was crafted by UNCITRAL Working Group V in May 2020.

Not all governmental units within a jurisdiction change their laws in concert with each other, nor should they: They may have different roles, functions, populations and constituencies, and financial profiles.

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law promulgated the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (Model Law) as “a uniform approach” to having one proceeding — a foreign main proceeding — be principally responsible for managing a debtor’s insolvency regardless of the number of jurisdictions in which the debtor has assets or creditors.[1] Many jurisdictions have adopted the Model Law, including the U.S.

This article addresses the legal issues arising from the cross-border insolvency proceedings for Jet Airways Ltd., India’s largest private airline, which maintained flight routes around the world but stopped flying on April 17, 2019. Jet Airways is the first Indian airline company to undergo cross-border insolvency proceedings under the provisions of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) from India.

It has been another great year for the International Committee. As co-chairs, we would like to thank all the members of the ABI International Committee for their support and continued participation on the committee for 2019. The committee’s success reflects the hard work of its members each year.

As always, we also thank the support of the ABI staff and the ABI Board of Directors, both of whom helped to facilitate and guide our work throughout the year.