On November 20 2015 the Bahamian Supreme Court declined to register a composition with creditors sought by Irish billionaire Sir Anthony O'Reilly. The court took the alternative route of adjudicating him bankrupt instead.

Facts

The Law On Insolvency (Bankruptcy) of 13 July 2012 comes into force on 25 January 2013. The law is not introducing bankruptcy of individuals despite many voices raised in favor of this concept so far unknown to the Belarusian legal system. However, other important novelties may be summarised as follows:

Introduction

This article reflects on some of the options offered under Belgian law by the actio pauliana, commonly referred to in English as the 'clawback' rules (for further details please see "Reservation of title: legal guidelines and practical tips" and "

Thomas Cook Belgium and Brussels Airlines may escape fines from the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) notwithstanding the conclusion of an agreement providing for anticompetitive practices according to the Investigation and Prosecution Service of the Authority.

In August 2017, the BCA had opened an investigation into potential anticompetitive practices resulting from the conclusion of a "Commercial Service Agreement" between Thomas Cook Belgium and Brussels Airlines.

On February 22 2018 the Supreme Court delivered an important judgment regarding the relationship between:

• privileged creditors in the framework of reorganisation proceedings; and
• secured creditors in the event of a subsequent bankruptcy.

Privileged claims

In the framework of the reform of insolvency law that entered into force on 1 May 2018, the legislator has introduced important amendments regarding the liability of the directors in case of bankruptcy. These amended liability rules apply to directors of companies and not to physical persons who operate without a corporate structure.

1. Liability claim for apparent gross fault

On 13 July 2017 parliament voted to introduce book XX "Insolvency of Companies" in the Code of Economic Law.

In a previous article we already wrote that the insolvency law would be adapted to current national and international regulations and case law and would be incorporated into the Code of Economic Law as a coherent whole.

In this way, solvency procedures must be more transparent, efficient and effective.

The law of 11 August 2017 that adds Book XX "Insolvency of Enterprises" into the Code of Economic Law enters into force on 1 May 2018.

As we already stated in our previous contributions about the reform of the insolvency law, this law modifies and regroups the Bankruptcy law and the Law of 31 January 2009 on the Continuity of Enterprises.

1. The notion "Enterprise" replaces the notion "Merchant"

As from 1 May 2018, the Belgian insolvency landscape will look different following the entry into force of the brand new Insolvency Law (Book XX of the Economic Law Code). In the wake of the electronic debt reporting system that came into force on 1 April 2017, the filing of bankruptcy must also be made electronically in the Central Solvency Register (RegSol) as of 1 May 2018.