Revised Russian Bankruptcy Regulations
A moratorium on bankruptcy filings and certain security enforcement has been imposed by the Russian government for at least six months with respect to many categories of companies. During this period, the ability of creditors to enforce their existing rights will be restricted significantly. It is likely that the negotiating balance will swing in debtors’ favor, but the moratorium will place all business and survival decisions of those protected companies under increased scrutiny and at risk of being challenged or found void in certain cases.
Legal Background
The Russian Federation continues to take measures aimed at reducing the negative impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on businesses. On 1 April 2020, Article 9.1 (“Moratorium on Initiation of Bankruptcy Proceedings”) was incorporated into the Federal Law “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)” (the “Bankruptcy Law”), and on 3 April 2020 the Government of the Russian Federation introduced a moratorium on the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings against certain categories of debtors on the basis of the aforementioned Article.
Hogan Lovells Publications | 27 March 2020
Coronavirus FAQ: Key legal considerations for Russia
Moscow authorities strongly encourage employers to introduce remote working (work from home) regime where possible. Please make sure you carefully document the new working regime in the addenda to the employment contract or have special internal policy governing this.
The law has come in force in Russia which provides for a regime of moratorium on insolvency filings of certain categories of debtors.
Below we summarise the key provisions of the regime.
This publication is relevant as of its date. Please note that the situation is evolving very rapidly and we cannot guarantee that the publication is still up-to-date as at the time of reading.
During his national address on 2 April, President Putin announced his decision to prolong the initial non-working days from 4 April to 30 April 2020 inclusive in order to fight against the spread of COVID-19. He signed a new Executive Order* providing for this.
В ходе своего обращения к гражданам 2 апреля президент В. В. Путин объявил о своем решении продлить первоначально установленный режим нерабочих дней с 4 апреля по 30 апреля 2020 года включительно. В этих целях президентом был подписан новый указ, предусматривающий соответствующие меры.
The Russian Government has enacted a regime of moratorium on insolvency filings of certain debtors pursuant to the law on bankruptcy moratorium which came in force last week.
Below we summarise the key provisions of the regime.