On 31 October 2023, the Federal Decree-Law No. 51 of 2023 on Financial Restructuring and Bankruptcy (the Bankruptcy Law) was published in the UAE Gazette. The Bankruptcy Law replaces the Federal Law No. 9 of 2016 on Bankruptcy (as amended) (the 2016 Law).
The aim of the Bankruptcy law is to introduce a modern, streamlined and business-friendly approach to restructuring in the UAE (except for the DIFC and ADGM freezones, which have their own insolvency regimes).
Key Changes
On 12th May 2023, the High Court of England and Wales issued another significant judgment which is expected to advance the progress of reciprocal enforcement of judgments between the courts of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and England and Wales.
Law No. 47/2010/QH12 on credit institutions has been amended pursuant to Law No. 17/2017/QH14 (“Amended Law”) passed by the National Assembly. The Amended Law came into effect on 15 January 2018.
The Amended Law provides grounds for special control by the State Bank of Vietnam (“SBV”) against underperforming credit institutions which:
have failed to maintain liquidity requirements;
have accumulated losses exceeding 50% of the charter capital and reserve funds as recorded in the latest audited financial statements;
Summary
Bankruptcy in Vietnam applies to enterprises (including foreign invested enterprises), co operatives and co operative unions (hereafter collectively referred to as enterprises). Unlike certain countries, this does not apply to individuals.
Bankruptcy Law
Bankruptcy procedures are governed by the Law on Bankruptcy No. 51/2014/QH13 which came into effect on 1 January 2015: