The Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 was signed into law by the President on 2 August 2011. The Act provides for certain provisions, concerning private security services, bankruptcy and family mediation services, to come into operation on such days as the Minister for Justice and Equality, by order, appoints. All other provisions of the Act came into force on 2 August.
The Act introduces a number of important reforms across a broad range of areas, including:
InJ.D. Brian Ltd (in liquidation) & Others the High Court held that, where a floating charge crystallised prior to the commencement of a winding-up, the preferential creditors still had priority pursuant to in section 285 of the Companies Act 1963 over the holder of what had become a fixed charge.
The rapid downturn in the economy means company directors are faced with new challenges, possibly on a greater scale and more complex than ever before. Directors are responsible for managing the affairs of a company, identifying risk and ensuring that there is a strategy and a system in place to deal with those risks.
Weak and inadequate management by the directors may contribute to a weak financial performance and can lead to damage to business reputation, adverse media attention and damage to the business itself.
In Prest v Petrodel Resources Limited (in Liquidation)(1) the Manx court recently confirmed that where security for costs orders is appropriate, the amount ordered will not always be restricted to a sum representing the extra costs incurred in enforcing an order in the jurisdiction in which the claimant is resident or in which assets are situated.
Under the Companies Acts, the liquidator of every insolvent company is obliged to bring a court application to have the insolvent company’s directors restricted from acting as director or secretary of any other company for a period of five years unless that other company has a paid-up share capital of approximately €63,500. The relevant provision of the Companies Acts (Section 150) applies to any person who was a director of the insolvent company either at the date of or within 12 months of the start of the company’s winding-up. Section 150 also applies to shadow directors.
Client Update
The Insolvency and Rehabilitation Law, 2018
On March 5, 2018 the Israeli parliament passed the Insolvency and Rehabilitation Law, 2018 (the "Law"). The Law establishes, for the first time, a modern and consolidated set of insolvency laws for individuals and corporations in Israel. In addition to the codification and consolidation of existing insolvency and rehabilitation rules from multiple sources, the Law makes a number of changes to these existing rules in Israel.
Set out below are some of the key elements of this important new Law.
The Knesset has aimed to update the law on insolvency by passing the Law of Insolvency and Economic Rehabilitation.
This has arisen as a result of the current insolvency laws being considered to be regulated under outdated legislation, being disorganised and having had a detrimental effect on debtors, creditors, and the economy. The incoming Law will take effect in 18 months' time and is designed to rectify the situation and provide the Israeli economy with modern legislation with respect to insolvency.
The Law has three primary objectives:
In March 2018, the Knesset enacted the Insolvency and Economic Rehabilitation Law, 5778 – 2018, which is designed to update the insolvency laws that today apply in Israel.
Until now, insolvency laws were regulated under old-fashioned, outdated, and spotty legislation that was detrimental to the debtors, the creditors, and the entire economy. The law approved in 2018 is designed to rectify this situation and provide the Israeli economy with modern insolvency legislation.
The Italian Government has enacted Law Decree no. 23/2020, which was published in the Official Journal on April 8, 2020 and entered into force starting from April 9, 2020 (the "Decree"), introducing various new measures aimed, inter alia, at supporting companies affected financially by COVID-19 outbreak and shutdown in Italy. This newsflash outlines the measures rescheduling the entry into force of the Insolvency law regime and relaxing certain corporate law requirements, and looks at which companies will be eligible to take advantage of the new provisions.
This quick guide summarises the duties that directors of companies incorporated in Italy 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 is intended as an overview and should not be relied on as legal advice. Should you require legal advice in relation to your specific circumstances, please contact the Restructuring & Insolvency team members whose contact details are at the end of this note.