Since our last update in October 2019, there have been many interesting developments in the area of environmental law. The COVID-19 pandemic, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and climate change were key topics that shaped judicial, legislative, and policy changes in British Columbia and across Canada. With respect to judicial developments, disputes over natural resource projects, contaminated sites, environmental prosecutions, as well as judicial review or appeal decisions arising from environmental regulatory bodies, brought many changes to the landscape of environmental law.

With its judgment of November 28, 2016, the German Supreme Tax Court (Bundesfinanzhof; “BFH”) dismissed the application of the tax administration’s so-called restructuring decree (Sanierungserlass). The restructuring decree allowed, subject to certain conditions, a suspension and abatement of taxes on so-called cancellation-of-debt income (“COD-Income”) otherwise resulting from certain recapitalization measures such as the waiver of debt and “debt-to-equity swaps”.

With its judgment of 28 November 2016, the German Supreme Tax Court (Bundesfinanzhof; BFH) dismissed the application of the tax administration's so-called restructuring decree (Sanierungserlass). The restructuring decree allowed, subject to certain conditions, a suspension and abatement of taxes on so-called cancellation of debt income (COD Income) otherwise resulting from certain recapitalization measures such as the waiver of debt and debt-to-equity swaps.