A comprehensive change to German insolvency and restructuring law has become effective starting 1 January 2021. The change allows that a company's reorganization is possible without insolvency and includes the majority decision of its creditors.

Both the German federal government and various German federal states are pushing ahead with packages of measures to mitigate the as-yet-unforeseeable economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overview

In order to mitigate the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the legislator passed the COVID-19 Insolvency Suspension Act (COVInsAG; the “Act”), which came into force on 27 March with retroactive effect from 1 March 2020.

New Law to Encourage Informal Restructuring

On 28 March 2017, the Federal Government released its long awaited draft legislation that is designed to encourage restructuring of distressed businesses.

The proposed legislation is open for consultation with the finalised legislation expected to come into effect on 1 January 2018. There are two proposed changes: