A declaration of bankruptcy, according to Article 645 of the Commercial Transactions Law, can be imposed on any trader who ceases to pay some or all of its commercial debts. While a debtor’s cessation of payment is a presumption against him, the trader might not be considered bankrupt if the failure to pay is due to a dispute regarding the debt. In other words, it is important to prove that the debtor ceased to pay a certain commercial debt due to financial distress and credit issues.

Factoring is one of the oldest forms of financing and is still relevant to almost all businesses across the globe.

It is a financing arrangement that enables a business to sell its account receivables (ie. outstanding monies owed to that business) to third parties at a discounted price. These third parties are typically banks or financial institutions, also known as factors. A company would agree to sell and assign its receivables to the factor, prior to their due date, at an agreed discounted rate. The discount accounts for the risk of non-payment. 

Enforcement of a judgment should be the crown jewel of every successful claim.

However, the picture is not always as rosy. Sometimes the successful litigant is faced with the realisation that the judgment debtor has no substantial assets for the enforcement and recovery of the awarded sums. What is left is an ‘empty’ judgment.

This article will attempt to discuss the situation of empty judgments, what brings them about, ways to prevent them, as well as some practical recommendation and suggestions from our practice and experience.

UAE Law No. 18 of 1993 ‘Concerning Commercial Transactions’ (the “Commercial Transactions Law”) provides a framework for the bankruptcy of persons engaged in trade.

Part Five of the Commercial Transactions Law sets out provisions dealing with the bankruptcy procedure for traders who cease to pay their debts. This article will take a look at the bankruptcy provisions of the Commercial Transactions Law.

Definition of Bankruptcy

Section 1 of Article 645 of the Commercial Transactions Law provides:

In a landmark legal development, a judgment of the DIFC Courts has been recognised and enforced for the first time in a Western jurisdiction.

The Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia, issued an order recognising and enforcing the DIFC Courts judgment issued by Justice Sir Richard Field in Legatum Limited v Arif Salim (CFI 027/2014).

In these challenging economic times, some businesses are struggling to cope with financial pressures and financiers are concerned with their customers’ ability to service their financing arrangements. An effective insolvency regime is, therefore, an important element of financial system stability. The statutory insolvency regime in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) has often been regarded as under-developed and remains largely untested.

This article is a case study on how the UAE, a country with two cities which are significant international financial and business centres (namely Dubai and Abu Dhabi), functions without effective insolvency laws; and why this state of affairs is likely to continue for some time.

Whilst it is not strictly true that the UAE has no insolvency laws at all, it is fair to say that no one (debtors or creditors) makes use of the existing laws. A new UAE insolvency law has been drafted, but in the writer’s view it will be years before it sees the light.

OW Bunker, one of the world’s major bunker suppliers and traders, and one of the largest companies in Denmark in terms of revenue, has filed for in-court restructuring for major parts of its business.

The subsidiaries involved face insolvency following the uncovering a $125m fraud in Singapore and a $150m risk management loss.

On 14 December 2014 the DIFC Law No. 2 of 2014, or the “Netting Law of 2014” (the “Law”), came into force as a law in the Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”) following its enactment on 7 December 2014 by His Highness Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai.

Introduction