The current year has brought new amendments to the Commercial Law. These mainly refer to the company liquidation procedure. Additionally, the Commercial Law now contains a new procedure for suspending operations of a commercial entity. The amendments also set limits on a natural person doing business or occupying certain positions following decisions during criminal proceedings or proceedings involving administrative violations.
This newsflash covers novelties and trends in the field of board member liability. Initially it was stated that on 1 January 2015, new amendments to the Latvian Insolvency Law come into force setting liability of management board members for non-submission of accounting documents to the insolvency administrator. However currently there is a draft law submitted to the Parliament in order to postpone the effective date to 01.03.2015.
Major amendments have been introduced to the Insolvency Law. Although initially the plan was that these would enter into force on 1 January next year, currently a draft law is before the Parliament to postpone the effective date to 1 March 2015. This newsflash deals with the main innovations.
Obligation to file for insolvency
In practice there a numerous uncertainties in relation to civil liability of management bodies of companies, scope of such liability, and related matters. On 4 April 2017, considering the current situation, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania (the Supreme Court or SC) published the first overview of case law in relation to application of the norms of civil law regulating civil liability of management bodies of companies in the case law of the Supreme Court.
Amendments to the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens
The draft amendments to the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens (hereinafter – the Law) aim to ensure more effective control of the migration of the aliens that are posing risk, to reduce the threat of their temporary or permanent residency in Lithuania, as well to establish an order for the urgent issuance of residence permits in the Republic of Lithuania.
Įstatymo Dėl užsieniečių teisinės padėties pakeitimai
Įstatymo Dėl užsieniečių teisinės padėties (toliau tekste – „Įstatymas“) pakeitimo projektu siekiama užtikrinti veiksmingesnę riziką keliančių užsieniečių migracijos kontrolę, mažinti tokių asmenų laikino ar nuolatinio apsigyvenimo Lietuvoje grėsmę, taip pat įtvirtinti leidimų gyventi Lietuvoje išdavimo skubos tvarka institutą.
According to the current wording of the Republic of Lithuania Enterprise Bankruptcy Law, a head of an enterprise or a shareholder must file a petition with a court for the initiation of the enterprise bankruptcy proceedings in the event where the company is not able and/or shall not be able to settle with its creditors or where the company has made a public announcement or has informed the creditors that it has no intention to discharge its obligations.
La Cour d'appel de Luxembourg décide que le jugement de clôture de faillite pour insuffisance d'actifs ne met pas un terme aux opérations de faillite, mais en suspend les opérations.
La survie d'une société au terme des opérations de faillite diffère selon l'actif récupéré par le curateur.
Les sociétés commerciales dont les opérations sont clôturées pour insuffisance d'actif restent inscrites au registre de commerce.
On 19 August 2016, the new law of 10 August 2016 on the modernization of the company law was published in Luxembourg's Official Journal (Mémorial A, n° 167) following its adoption by Parliament on 13 July 2016. The new law will enter into force 3 days following this publication date, i.e., on 23 August 2016.
The new rules will become immediatly applicable on August 23, although companies incorporated before that date will benefit from a 2-year grace period to amend their articles of association.
Luxembourg’s modernisation of the Companies Act of 1915 was formally adopted on 13 July 2016, and includes changes to company liquidation, incorporation and capital increase procedures.
Three-step liquidation