When the final version of the Omnibus II Directive comes into force, it will amend the Solvency II Directive so that it includes a sunrise clause, a phasing-in clause, and a run-off and restructuring exemption, as well as significant reporting and other transitional measures. It will also allow or require the European Commission and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) to adopt “regulatory technical standards”,“implementing technical standards” and “comply or explain Guidelines”.
A crisis far beyond anything experienced in recent memory
The way in which regulators, investors, banks and governments respond to the current sovereign debt challenges will echo for many years. Decisions made today will, for better or worse, continue to have consequences far beyond our current time horizon. Getting it right will not be easy.
The Court of Appeal decided yesterday that it couldn’t make a ruling on the correct way to calculate the collective redundancies threshold without making a reference to the European Court of Justice. Employers will therefore have to wait a considerable while longer before the law is clarified.
We take a look at the reforms to the EC Insolvency Regulation in light of the European Parliament’s 4 February vote on the committee of legal affairs’ report on the proposed reforms.
The background
Global—On 10 January 2014, the US Supreme Court agreed to resolve a court split over the scope of discovery orders aimed at enforcing judgments against foreign states. In Argentina v. NML Capital, Ltd., No. 12-842, 2014 BL 7274 (Jan. 10, 2014), the Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari to hear an appeal stemming from Argentina's default on its government debt in 2001. Argentina restructured its defaulted debt in 2005 and 2010.
En décembre 2013, Chypre a notifié à la Commission européenne une aide de 102,9 millions EUR pour la restructuration de la compagnie aérienne nationale Cyprus Airways. Le plan de restructuration vise à rétablir la situation financière de l’entreprise qui rencontre des difficultés depuis de nombreuses années.
Europe has struggled mightily during the last several years to triage a long series of critical blows to the economies of the 28 countries that comprise the European Union, as well as the collective viability of eurozone economies. Here we provide a snapshot of some recent developments regarding insolvency, restructuring, and related issues in the EU.
The “Waterford Crystal” Judgment
Introduction
The Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) delivered its judgment in Hogan & Others v. Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Ireland, Attorney General [2013] CJEU Case C-398-11 on 25 April 2013.
Summary
The Court of Appeal’s judgment in The Trustees of the Olympic Airlines SA Pension & Life Insurance Scheme v Olympic Airlines SA [2013] EWCA Civ 643 has clarified what is required to fall within the definition of an ‘establishment’ for the purposes of the EC Insolvency Regulation (the Insolvency Regulation).
The EU Court of Justice has held that the Irish State is obliged to protect the pension benefits of former employees of Waterford Crystal who were left with only 18-28% of their pension benefits when the company became insolvent.