The transition from 2009 to 2010 sees some significant legislative chapters closing, notably the Companies Act 2006, Rome I and II, the Banking Act 2009 and the Lisbon Treaty.
Background
This quick guide summarises the duties that directors of companies incorporated in France are subject to, and how those duties change when the company is insolvent or at risk of being insolvent.
This quick guide summarises the duties that directors of companies incorporated in France are subject to, and how those duties change when the company is insolvent or at risk of being insolvent.
It also gives an overview of the personal risk to directors when the company is in financial difficulty.
This note sets out the duties of the following directors of French companies with a particular focus on the duties owed by such directors of companies in financial difficulties:
The French government, using the powers conferred upon it by law n°2020-290 of 23 March 2020 to counter the Covid-19 epidemic urgency, adopted order n°2020-341 of 27 March 2020 in order to adapt the rules for companies in difficulty in the light of the health crisis (the “Order”).
The Order was supplemented by a circular of the Ministry of Justice n°CIV/03/20 dated 30 March 2020 (the “Circular”).
A borrower who, without having the right to do so, would not pay a credit instalment due between 12 March 2020 and one month after the end of the state of health emergency (which is supposed to last two months as from 24 March 2020 but could be extended), could argue that the loan documents' acceleration clause and default interest clause (a liquidated damage clause) shall only take effect after that period pursuant to Ordinance No. 2020-306 of 25 March 2020, adopted further to the "emergency" Law No. 2020-290 of 23 March 2020.
Hogan Lovells Publications | 07 April 2020
Introduction of financial measures in support of businesses facing the Covid-19 crisis
Faced with the impact of the Covid-19 health crisis on the local and European economy, the President of the French Republic and the government announced several emergency measures in order to support businesses in difficulty.
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Actualité législative et réglementaire
- Ordonnance n°2017-1519 du 2 novembre 2017 relatif aux procédures d’insolvabilité
- Décret n°2017-1416 du 28 septembre 2017 relatif à la signature électronique
Jurisprudence
Presented as a major measure of the five-year French presidential term, the law “on growth and business transformation”, also known as the PACTE Act, came into force on May 24th, 2019. Amongst the changes that were brought, some of them deserve a particular focus.
Two phases of the reform. The PACTE Act revises the insolvency legal framework and mainly empowers the executive to directly implement the EU insolvency directive and to reform the law on security interests within a period of two years.
The first phase of the reform