In the last week of January, the Czech Government passed an amendment to the Insolvency Act, which was prepared by the Ministry of Justice. The aim of the amendment is to respond to the growing widespread practice of the filing of unjustified insolvency petitions by creditors. The amendment intends to allow courts to reject such petitions.
A Creditor did not register his claim against a debtor in insolvency proceedings due to missing information concerning the publication of the debtor's bankruptcy in the Insolvency Register. The creditor regularly searched for information regarding the debtor´s potential bankruptcy in the insolvency register and was always informed that a resolution on the debtor´s bankruptcy had not been made.
On 5 March 2013, the Government submitted a groundbreaking bill amending Act No. 182/2006 Coll. on bankruptcy and settlement (the Insolvency Act) and Act No. 312/2006 Coll. on insolvency administrators to the Chamber of Deputies of Czech Parliament, which approved the bill on 8 August 2013.
The objective of the proposed legislation is not only to reflect changes arising from private law recodification, but also to comprehensively revise proablem areas in existing insolvency proceedings legislation.
In the current climate, the demand for jobs substantially exceeds the supply. Even so, for employers it can still be difficult to find a quality employee who meets the specific requirements for the given job. Once a suitable employee is found for the vacant position, they complete the usual formalities – submitting documents on their education, health and evidence of criminal records, agree with the employer on wages and other conditions of the employment and sign the labor contract.
Following last edition’s article on the insolvency proceedings of the market-leading Czech betting company, we would like to provide an update on the progress of the company’s insolvency proceedings.
In the September, 2006 issue of Insolvency Notes, the effect of the overhaul of the bankruptcy laws in the Czech Republic was discussed. As was the case at that time, the new insolvency laws were to become effective July 1, 2007. It now appears that the effective date will be delayed. The lower house of Czech Parliament gave fast-track approval recently to a bill for delaying implementation of the new bankruptcy act by six months, to January 1, 2008. Senate and presidential approval is still needed.
On 16 April 2014 the Estonian Parliament adopted amendments to the bankruptcy and reorganisation laws. The law has now been published in Riigi Teataja (the official journal) and will enter into force on 19 May 2014.
Recently the German Federal Government introduced a reform of the German Insolvency Code by adopting a draft bill of an Act to Further Facilitate the Restructuring of Businesses (the “Bill”). The Bill primarily focuses on the facilitation of insolvency plans as a tool for restructurings and to eliminate certain obstacles of the German insolvency law. If enacted as proposed, the Bill would simplify the purchase of shares of an insolvent company and would give investors more influence and flexibility in in-solvency plan proceedings.
INSOLVENCY PLANS
Last month, the German Ministry for Justice and Legal Affairs (Bundesjustizministerium) published a draft law proposal aimed at further "facilitating the restructuring of businesses".
Mining the wreckage
This article was first published on the Financial Times website on 10 September 2018.
It was the biggest bankruptcy in history – ten times bigger than Enron – and the tipping point into a global recession.
But what really happened on the ground during those fateful days, as the myth of certain banks being ‘too-big-to-fail’ exploded on a global scale?
It was a huge historical event, yet one with a distinctly human face.