On 31 March 2020, the Czech government approved ‘Lex COVID-19’, a new act (and an amendment of the Insolvency Act and Enforcement Code) that should help mitigate certain effects caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, especially in relation to different proceedings (e.g. civil, administrative, criminal, insolvency and enforcement) and the corporate lives of legal entities.

Lex COVID-19 will now be debated in the Chamber of Deputies ahead of final approval.

The new Amendment on the Czech Insolvency Act (the “Amendment”) will enter into force on 1 July 2017.

The Amendment introduces a “liquidity gap” test, which will be used when a debtor (entrepreneur) needs to determine whether it is considered insolvent or not. The liquidity gap is the difference between a debtor’s due debts and its readily available funds. A debtor will only be considered insolvent if the liquidity gap is higher than 10% of its overdue debts.

Summary

The High Court recently handed down the judgment in Ralls Builders Ltd (In Liquidation), Re [2016] EWHC 1812 (Ch). It was held that liquidators and administrators are not able to recover their own costs and expenses of investigating a wrongful trading claim from the directors of a company, even following a finding of wrongful trading under section 214 Insolvency Act 1986.

Background

The Court of Appeal gave judgment today (15 November 2013) in favour of licensed insolvency practitioner Andrew Hosking (D), unanimously upholding a strike out judgment of Peter Smith J made on 22 February 2013. 

Stephen Hunt, liquidator of Ovenden Colbert Printers Limited (“OCP”), had sued D and 8 other defendants.  His claim against D was brought pursuant to sections 238 and 241 Insolvency Act 1986.  He alleged that D had received or benefited from payments made by OCP which constituted transactions at an undervalue. 

The Czech Parliament passed an amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure (Act No. 99/1963 Coll., as amended) and the Act on Execution Procedure (Act No. 120/2001 Coll., as amended). Most of the provisions of the new legislation will be effective as of 1 January 2013. The amendment will, among other things, significantly modify the rules on enforcement of claims in the Czech Republic, as it changes some of the existing methods of enforcement under Czech law as well as introducing new ones.