As a director or manager of a UAE company, you will know that like individuals, companies experience times of good health and occasional periods of sickness.

In this note, we focus on you, as directors (which includes managers) of “onshore” limited liability companies (“LLCs”), noting of course that the rules may also apply to certain free zone entities as well. We want you as directors to be certain of your duties and responsibilities in the good times but also sure of the actions you should or could take if things go wrong for your company, and financial difficulties arise.

Als Teil des gesetzgeberischen Maßnahmenpakets zur Abmilderung der wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen der COVID-19-Pandemie erleichtert das COVID-19-Insolvenzaussetzungsgesetz (COVInsAG) die rechtssichere Finanzierung kriselnder Unternehmen und setzt Anreize an deren Gesellschafterkreise: der Nachrang von Gesellschafterdarlehen und das Erfordernis eines Sanierungsgutachtens sind durch das COVInsAG suspendiert.

In the past few years, many automotive suppliers have been facing increasing financial or operational problems. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these problems and is putting some of these companies in considerable distress. The search for possible solutions is in full swing, and for financial investors or competitors with strong liquidity, there is the opportunity to acquire shares in the companies in crisis or alternatively in individual assets at comparatively favourable conditions.

On 23 March 2020, the Australian Parliament passed the Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus Act No. 22 of 2020 (the Act), which is designed to provide an economic response to the effect, on Australia, of the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world by stimulating and supporting economic activity.

In relation to the Australian insolvency regime the Act made some significant changes to the relevant laws as follows.

Temporary relief for financially distressed individuals and businesses

Following the declaration of the state of alarm in Spain due to the COVID-19 outbreak on March 14 2020, the Spanish Government announced the implementation of a series of extraordinary measures in the financial sector in order to address the economic impact promoted by the rapid spread of COVID-19.

Temporary suspension of obligation to file for insolvency and of creditor’s right to request opening of insolvency proceedings

On 25 March 2020 the German parliament passed a bill “to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in civil, bankruptcy and criminal procedure law” (COVID-19 Bill) that aims at protecting companies that experience financial difficulties as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vorübergehende Aussetzung der Insolvenzantragspflicht und des Rechts des Gläubigers, die Eröffnung eines Insolvenzverfahrens zu beantragen

Am 25. März 2020 hat der Deutsche Bundestag ein Gesetz „zur Abmilderung der Folgen der COVID-19-Pandemie im Zivil-, Insolvenz- und Strafverfahrensrecht (COVID-19 Insolvenzgesetz) beschlossen, das darauf abzielt, Unternehmen zu schützen, die infolge der COVID-19-Pandemie in finanzielle Schwierigkeiten geraten.

The Czech Government has prepared several measures that should help people and businesses in the challenging times related to the outbreak of COVID-19. These measures are currently divided into several draft laws, covering topics such as insolvency, loans, leases, employment, and court proceedings. We have chosen relevant fields briefly described below and we will provide more detailed information about these relevant fields once the final laws are passed by the Parliament (which should be shortly due to the state of legislative emergency).

Directors have a duty to act in the best interests of the company. A director has the following general duties under the Companies Act 2006:

It is widely known that COVID-19 imposes immediate difficulties on many companies to pay their bills, and – equally – to collect their own outstanding invoices. Below, we discuss the most commonly expected complications against the background of enforcement, leniency provisions and – if worst comes to worst – insolvency in the Netherlands.

Government measures (emergency aid)