In the case of Wilson v McNamara [2020] EWHC 98 (Ch) the High Court of England and Wales (the Court) considered whether the EU principle of freedom of establishment requires that a pension held in another EU member state (Ireland) should be excluded from a bankruptcy estate under UK law in the same manner as a UK pension would be in a UK bankruptcy. Mr Justice Nugee decided in order to decide the case the Court needed to refer a preliminary reference to the European Court of Justice (CJEU) on a question of EU law.
The European Court of Justice has handed down its decision in Pensions-Sicherungs-Verein VVaG v Günther Bauer. The case relates to Article 8 of Directive 2008/94/EC, which requires Member States to take measures to protect employees’ rights to old age benefits in the event of the employer's insolvency.
The validity of an assignment of receivables cross-border depends on the law that applies to the assignment.
What might amount to a valid assignment in one jurisdiction, does not mean, that it is valid in another and where there are competing claims to the receivables and competing jurisdictions, the question of which law applies and therefore whether there has been a valid assignment significantly affects the ability of the assignee to rely on the assignment.
There are a range of potential outcomes to the current Brexit negotiations. What would the impact on corporate recovery and insolvency be of a no-deal Brexit? It is important for all stakeholders, including businesses, lenders and investors to be aware of the difficulties that will arise in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Key points if no-deal Brexit happens
There are 3 developments on pre-packs to note – 2 domestic and 1 further afield:
At the European Union level, the cross-border proceedings benefit under EU Regulation 848/2015 from a unitary framework who general declared purpose is to ensure the optimal functioning of the internal market. To this end, there are a series of rules and principles intended to prevent the transfer of assets or judicial proceedings from one member state to another in the attempt to obtain a more favorable legal situation to the detriment of the creditors’ list.
La justicia europea se pronuncia sobre la aplicación de las garantías laborales en la transmisión de empresas cuando cedente y cesionario prevén la posterior desaparición del cesionario por liquidación. Nada impide segregar una parte de la empresa y posibilitar su autonomía, pero mantener la dependencia y provocar su quiebra resulta contrario al principio de estabilidad que rige el transfondo laboral de toda transmisión empresarial.
On 7 February 2019, my article entitled “No deal Brexit – impact on insolvency” was published on Lexology. That article was published shortly after the Insolvency (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the “2019 Regulations”) were made.
1. Introduction