During the current economic downturn the number of insolvency proceedings in the Czech Republic continuously increases. The insolvency legislation plays a key role in insolvency proceedings. Given the tough conditions on the market, we are witnessing higher numbers of bullying insolvency petitions submitted against debtors.

Draft Law No. 3555 “On Financial Restructuring” (the “Restructuring Law”) aimed at creating effective mechanisms for voluntary financial restructuring of Ukrainian companies’ debts (the “Voluntary Restructuring”). The Restructuring Law is adopted as a temporary measure and will be in effect for three years. The Government expects that the Restructuring Law will result in reducing the amount of bad loans and restoring bank lending.

The main novelties of the Restructuring Law are as follows:

In the last week of January, the Czech Government passed an amendment to the Insolvency Act, which was prepared by the Ministry of Justice. The aim of the amendment is to respond to the growing widespread practice of the filing of unjustified insolvency petitions by creditors. The amendment intends to allow courts to reject such petitions.

The new Act CV of 2015 on debt settlement procedure for private individuals provides an opportunity for debt settlement both outside and within the scope of a court procedure.

Major parties to the procedure:

On 22 September 2011, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine No. 3795-VI “On Amendments to Several Legislative Acts of Ukraine regarding the Regulation of Legal Relations between Creditors and Receivers of Financial Services” (the “Law”). The Law, among other changes, introduced amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Restoring Debtor’s Solvency or Recognising it Bankrupt”, No. 2343-XII, dated 14 May 1992, as amended (the “Bankruptcy Law”).

As part of the Scottish Government’s aim of introducing a “Financial Health Service” in Scotland, the Bankruptcy and Debt Advice (Scotland) Act 2014 will this year bring into effect some of the widest reaching changes to the law on personal insolvency seen in the last five years. We set out below a brief guide to the main changes, as follows.

1) Business DAS – introduced in December 2014

A number of changes have been made to insolvency procedure to remove various discrepancies and controversial practices:

A discharged Bankrupt had intentionally misled the Court as to his COMI being in England and Wales in order to obtain a Bankruptcy Order. Four years after the making of the Bankruptcy Order, the Court annulled it on the grounds that the Court did not have jurisdiction to make the Order in the first place.

This recent decision on a jurisdictional challenge has provided greater clarity and potentially created a tortious cause of action where a debtor dissipates assets prior to judgment and subsequent freezing order.

Background

Pacific Exploration & Production Corporation ("the Company"), a Canadian public company who explore and produce natural gas and crude oil with operations focused in Latin America. In April 2016, the Company obtained an initial order from the Ontario Superior Court for protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act for the restructuring of the Company.