Il 5 aprile scorso l’Avvocato Generale Campos Sànchez-Bordona (AG) ha rassegnato le proprie conclusioni nell’ambito della causa C-245/16 pendente innanzi alla Corte di Giustizia (CdG) e instaurata su un rinvio pregiudiziale da parte del TAR Marche.
With its judgment of November 28, 2016, the German Supreme Tax Court (Bundesfinanzhof; “BFH”) dismissed the application of the tax administration’s so-called restructuring decree (Sanierungserlass). The restructuring decree allowed, subject to certain conditions, a suspension and abatement of taxes on so-called cancellation-of-debt income (“COD-Income”) otherwise resulting from certain recapitalization measures such as the waiver of debt and “debt-to-equity swaps”.
Issues will arise upon a UK exit in relation to restructuring tools such as schemes of arrangement and in relation to insolvency processes; there are also special EU insolvency rules for financial institutions which will be affected. Finally there are elements of EU financial services laws which impinge on insolvencies and remove uncertainties, such as settlement finality and financial collateral.
The recent case of Thomas & another v Frogmore Real Estate Partners & others [2017] EWHC 25 (Ch) provides useful guidance for anyone analyzing the centre of main interests (“COMI”) of a company not registered in the UK or other EEA state for the purposes of assessing whether or not insolvency proceedings relating to the company can be instigated in the UK courts under the EC Regulation.
If 2016 ended with more questions than answers as to how Brexit would take shape, 2017 began with at least a little more clarity.
Background
The EU-Commission is planning a European wide pre-insolvency (preventive) restructuring procedure in order to harmonise pre-insolvency proceedings within the EU, thus strengthening the EU domestic and capital markets, bringing clarity to cross-border transactions, and preventing forum-shopping.
At the end of 2016, the European Parliament issued a proposed directive (COM (2016)723/30/EU) in this regard (Directive Proposal).
Facts
Le cas est suffisamment rare pour être souligné : la justice européenne – celle-là même qui a milité et créé le droit à l’oubli – envoie un signal fort en vue de rappeler que celui-ci n’est pas absolu. Saisie d’une question impliquant les registres publics des personnes morales, elle estime qu’il n’y a en principe pas de droit à l’oubli pour les données à caractère personnel y figurant.
Europe has been a hot bed of legislative reform in the R&I space since the GFC. This panel discussed where some of the key jurisdictions had ended up in this process, in some cases, making significant changes to allow greater flexibility of treatment and efficiencies of process. Led by Philip Hertz (Clifford Chance), Lucas Kortmann (RESOR), Angel Martin (KPMG) and Dr Leo Plank (Kirkland & Ellis) discussed processes available in the UK, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany and some impending changes.