Certain governments have taken (extensive) measures to help businesses and its employees. This leads to an entire new and unprecedented market situation and results in sometimes unprecedented legal issues which require swift but thorough assessment, both from a national and cross-border perspective. To provide companies and its directors with some general guidelines in these times of uncertainty, our international Restructuring and Insolvency team has prepared an overview of certain pressing legal issues.

Right to carry out profit-making activities without limitation

Under the regime provided for by the Belgian law of 27 June 1921 (the Law of 1921), INPAs are prohibited from carrying out industrial or commercial operations unless the latter remain ancillary to their non-profit activities.

The liability of directors of major organisations receives wide coverage in the press. Examples (in the Netherlands) are Imtech, HDI, FC Twente, Vestia, and Meavita. But the subject really concerns directors of all legal entities, large and small. In this issue of Quoted, we refresh your knowledge of directors' liability and address recent developments, such as case law on `corporate directors' (legal entities which are appointed directors of other entities), the Bill for Management and Supervision of Legal Entities and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

In de pers gaat het veelal over de aansprakelijkheid van bestuurders van grotere organisaties zoals Imtech, HDI, FC Twente, Vestia en Meavita. In werkelijkheid gaat dit onderwerp bestuurders aan van alle rechtspersonen: van groot tot klein. Met deze Genoteerd frissen wij uw kennis op over de aansprakelijkheid van bestuurders. Wij staan ook stil bij belangrijke relevante recente ontwikkelingen, zoals rechtspraak over de zogeheten rechtspersoon-bestuurder, het Wetsvoorstel bestuur en toezicht rechtspersonen en de Algemene verordening gegevensverwerking.

In complex long-term charters for vessels or finance leases in respect of vessels under the U.S. Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”) and its Article 2A (governing commercial matters relating to finance leases) and under other similar law, a charterer’s or lessor’s damages under a charter or lease— both generally upon a payment default or in the event of a casualty—are often liquidated in stipulated loss value (“SLV”) provisions. These provisions ensure that the lessor/charterer gets the benefit of its bargain.

The Insolvency Working Group of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (“UNCITRAL”⁾¹ has been busy this past year, working on three new model laws and developing work on at least two possible future projects.2 The Insolvency Working Group is responsible for drafting the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (the “CBI Model Law”) in 1997, which has since been adopted in 46 countries and is under consideration in several others. In 2005, the United States adopted the CBI Model Law as Chapter 15 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. 

Op 7 juni 2019 heeft de Hoge Raad uitspraak gedaan in een procedure over de niet-voortzettingseis in de liquidatieverliesregeling die Loyens & Loeff namens een cliënt heeft gevoerd tegen de Belastingdienst.

Op grond van een Europese richtlijn gelden specifieke regels die beogen om werknemers te beschermen als er sprake is van een bedrijfsovername die in juridische zin aangemerkt kan worden als ‘overgang van onderneming’ (OVO). Deze bescherming geldt echter niet indien de werkgever in staat van faillissement is verklaard.

The Supreme Court recently limited the ability of debtors to use contract rejection in bankruptcy to shed unwanted trademark licensees. But the Court acknowledged that the result could change if the trademark licensing agreement had different termination rights. Going forward, parties entering into trademark licensing agreements will need to consider this decision carefully as they negotiate termination rights in the event of a bankruptcy by the licensor.

With the May 1 order, the Commission reaffirms its view that it has concurrent jurisdiction over debtors’ efforts to reject their FERC-jurisdictional contracts in bankruptcy. Further developments in judicial proceedings in the Sixth and Ninth Circuits are expected.