Background
The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a “pandemic” on March 11, 2020.
In response to the global outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), governments in many countries have issued emergency legislation to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on companies’ day-to-day operations. Since March 24, 2020, the Indian government has been announcing various measures aimed to ease corporate and tax compliance for companies doing business in India, as well as other measures pertaining to employment and bankruptcy matters. Below is a high-level overview of some of the most relevant aspects of these measures as they pertain to India subsidiaries of US companies.
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) notified the IBBI (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2018 (Amendment Regulations) on 4 July 2018 to amend the IBBI (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016 (CIRP Regulations) for the third time this year. Primarily, the Amendment Regulations seek to align the CIRP Regulations with the revised Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) post issuance of the Insolvency |
The efficacious implementation of the comprehensive and systematic Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, (hereinafter referred to as “IBC”) has instilled confidence in the creditors being a comprehensive, systemic and speedy reform thereby paving way for development and progress. The latest revision in the IBC by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (hereinafter referred to as “IBBI”) has further tightened the reins over the dishonest and fraudulent debtors by implementation of stricter policies controlling their conduct.
The intellectual property (IP) rights that protect key software, brands and technical processes can be amongst the most valuable assets of a company. But what happens to IP rights when a company becomes insolvent? What happens to the insolvent company's licences, and to its licensees who may have invested significant amounts of time and money in setting up manufacturing facilities to exploit the licensed technology or in advertising under a particular trade mark?
When doing business with a Luxembourg company in financial distress, the counterpart should be aware that certain transactions are at risk.
Doing business with a bankrupt Luxembourg company
A bankrupt Luxembourg company is automatically deprived from the administration of its assets. All transactions must be entered into by the receiver in bankruptcy acting in the name and on behalf of the bankrupt company.
The Federal Court recently addressed the proper construction of Section 93(3) of the Bankruptcy Act 1967 and Rule 276 of the Bankruptcy Rules 1967 in Ambank (M) Berhad v Lim Sue Beng.(1) In this appeal, the Federal Court was requested to decide on the following question of law:
On 26 September 2018 the Amsterdam District Court rendered its judgment in the proceedings between the liquidator of Fairfield Sentry Limited, Fairfield Sigma Limited and Fairfield Lambda Limited (which are all established in the British Virgin Islands) against Dutch public limited companies PricewaterhouseCoopers Accountants NV and PricewaterhouseCoopers NV and four accountants affiliated therewith (collectively, PwC).(1)
On 13 February 2009, the CDM Executive Board (CDM EB) adopted the procedures (the "Procedures") for modalities of communication (MoC) between project participants (PPs) in clean development mechanism (CDM) projects and the CDM EB, and a standardised MoC form (the "MoC Form").1 This Legal Alert gives an overview of the main elements of the Procedures and highlights certain insolvency issues related to the MoC.
Introduction