Earlier this year, we highlighted the US Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari in Siegel v. Fitzgerald (In re Circuit City Stores, Inc.) to determine whether a 2017 statute that increased Chapter 11 quarterly fees was constitutional. The Supreme Court has spoken and deemed the increase unconstitutional under the Bankruptcy Clause, which requires that bankruptcy laws be uniform.

The German Act on the Further Development of the Restructuring and Insolvency Law (Sanierungs- und Insolvenzrechtsfortentwicklungsgesetz – SanInsFoG) took effect on January 1, 2021, transforming the European Restructuring Directive of June 20, 2019 ((EU) 2019/1023) and introducing a self-administrated restructuring option outside the standard insolvency proceeding.

The Pre-Insolvency Restructuring Plan

As the economic effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continue to be felt, Germany’s protective shield proceeding under Section 270b of the Insolvency Code is a way for companies to restructure under the direction of management.