Does the German restructuring clause of Sec. 8c para. 1a CTA (see our Client Alert of 10 July 2009) conform to European Community law? This will be analyzed by the European Commission which has — by circular of 24 February — announced the initiation of a formal examination procedure (Art. 108 para. 2 TFEU, former Art. 88 para. 2 of the EC Treaty). Already before completion of the formal procedure, corporations with unrestricted and restricted tax liability in Germany may face farreaching consequences.

A. The Restructuring Clause of Sec. 8c para. 1a CTA

Parliament made a resolution calling on the Commission to adopt draft laws before the end of the year to help manage cross-border institutional crises. The measures should provide a common minimum set of rules, encourage convergence of national resolution and insolvency laws, and ultimately establish an EU resolution and insolvency regime. Parliament wants to see more crisis management powers to supervisory authorities, probably coordinated by the new European Banking Authority (EBA) (which takes over from CEBS).

On 28 June 2010 a motion was passed by the European Parliamentary Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs requesting that the European Parliament pass a resolution enabling the European Commission to prepare draft legislation on cross-border crisis management in the financial sector. The proposed framework would encompass amongst other things:  

Today, the European Commission announced its approval, under EU State Aid rules, of the restructuring of Latvian bank, Parex, which was partially nationalized in November 2008.

Yesterday, the European Commission announced that it was termporarily approving, under E.U.

Introduction

The transition from 2009 to 2010 sees some significant legislative chapters closing, notably the Companies Act 2006, Rome I and II, the Banking Act 2009 and the Lisbon Treaty.

In parallel with the decision to allow the UK government to intervene in the liquidation of Bradford & Bingley, the European Commission has approved measures taken to facilitate the restructuring of Dunfermline Building Society. After the business encountered major financial difficulties, the UK Government intervened to facilitate an approved restructuring plan under which the building society’s impaired assets were split from its profitable business and put into administration.

Last Friday, financial services group Dexia SA announced that it had reached an agreement with the European Commission relating to its restructuring plan. Dexia had previously received approximately €6.4 billion in bailout money from Belgium, France and Luxembourg. Pursuant to the negotiated restructuring plan, Dexia will:

The European Commission has proposed measures to protect independent travellers from financial loss if their airline collapses. Current rules provide tourists who book package holidays with protection covering brochure information, rights to cancel without penalty and airline or tour operator insolvency. However, 23% of travellers in the EU now book independently.