Ministerial Decisions

Ministerial Decision No. 212/2016 Issuing the Regulations on cultural initiatives Issued on 5 December 2016. Effective from the day after its publication date

Ministerial Decision No. 238/2016 Determining the fees for enrolment in the table of lawyers Issued on 1 December 2016. Effective from the day after its publication date

Preferred maritime liens can raise challenging issues during maritime disputes—especially during bankruptcy. Creditors may encounter problems when filing for seizure due to their unique nature, with venue is becoming a determining factor.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has given a preliminary ruling on when a security holder has "possession or…control" of financial collateral for the purposes of Directive 2002/47 on financial collateral arrangements. From an English law perspective, this is particularly relevant for anyone considering whether a floating charge over financial collateral qualifies as a security financial collateral arrangement (or SFCA).

Background – UK implementation and interpretation

On 23 September the Insolvency Service published responses to its "Review of the Corporate Insolvency Framework consultation" which in May had suggested four key changes to the UK’s corporate insolvency regime:

On December 10, 2016, Ontario’s Forfeited Corporate Property Act, 2015 (the FCPA), comes into force,1 along with related amendments to the Ontario Business Corporations Act (the OBCA).

Facility agreements almost always contain events of default based on a borrower's insolvency. Defining insolvency is therefore key. In this article published in July 2013 we discussed how, following Eurosail¹ , the common law was beginning to move the statutory tests of insolvency towards a more commercial view.

On 25 May 2016, the Insolvency Service published a consultation paper aimed at reforming various aspects of the UK's corporate insolvency regime. It has now collected responses from various interested parties including Dentons. Some proposals focus on the issue of rescue finance, and how to make sure businesses have access to suitable finance to continue to trade out of financial difficulty or achieve a suitable restructuring.

Sultani Decrees

Sultani Decree No. 39/2016

Enacting the Law on the continued validity of the licences of foreign accountancy and audit firms and the exemption of Omani owners of such firms from the full time requirement.

The Law extends the validity of the licences and the exemption up to 31/12/2017 renewable by a decision from the Ministers Council.

Issued on 18 August 2016. Effective from the day after the date of publication.

Sultani Decree No. 40/2016

In a recent judgment the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that the holder (an "Estate Claim Pledgee") of a right of pledge (an "Estate Claim Pledge") which secures one or more estate claims (each, a "Secured Estate Claim") is entitled to satisfy such claims out of the proceeds resulting from enforcement of such right of pledge ("Estate Claim Pledge Enforcement Proceeds") during the pledgor's bankruptcy provided that the claims have arisen from a legal relationship having come into existence prior to the bankruptcy.

Dutch Supreme Court 15 April 2016 (ECLI:NL:HR:2016:665)

In a recent judgment, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that a party who purchases and accepts the transfer of moveable assets subject to a retention of title acquires a right of conditional ownership with respect to those moveable assets and has the power to create an unconditional right of pledge over such right of conditional ownership.