In the following, we provide an overview of government assistance that has already been implemented or is planned to mitigate the effects of COVID-19. The KfW Special Program is available as of March 23, 2020 and applications can be submitted. Please be advised that changes may occur at any time.
We are happy to assist you as you move forward and design a targeted and tailor-made reaction to the current challenges.
Numerous energy-intensive companies having production facilities in Germany benefit from energy regulatory opportunities to reduce their electricity costs. The economic benefits of using these opportunities can be significant and quickly amount to several million euros a year. In the context of a number of recent transactions and restructurings relating to energy-intensive companies, we have analysed how the planned transaction/restructuring would affect existing energy regulatory benefits.
Where restructuring measures comprising collective redundancies become necessary, the employer must fulfil a number of legal requirements to successfully implement such measures. While it is sometimes tempting to implement the necessary restructuring in a way that ignores the various legal requirements (e.g. co-determination of the works council etc.), there are only exceptional situations in which such a way does not lead to a total failure of the original plan.
Germany's major legal reform aiming to facilitate group insolvencies comes into effect on April 21, 2018 (full German text). The new law allows insolvency proceedings over companies within a corporate group to be concentrated at a single German insolvency court and/or to be administered by one insolvency administrator.
After having implemented stricter anti-bribery and corruption regulations in late 2015 and mid2016, new criminal law provisions regarding confiscation orders and asset recovery will enter into force on 1 July 2017. The present legislation was considered to be insufficient. Further, the law implements European provisions into national law. The law provides new rules for compensation of damaged parties and lower prerequisites for confiscations.
The German Parliament passed an act to reduce the risk of clawback actions and provide more legal certainty in this regard under German law, the so called "Act for the Improvement of Legal Certainty concerning Clawback pursuant to the German Insolvency Code and the Creditor's Avoidance of Transfers Act" (Gesetz zur Verbesserung der Rechtssicherheit bei Anfechtungen nach der Insolvenzordnung und dem Anfechtungsgesetz) on Thursday, 16 February 2017.
Yesterday, the European Commission announced that it was termporarily approving, under E.U.
Nach einer umwandlungsrechtlichen Spaltung haften die übertragende Gesellschaft und die übernehmende Gesellschaft gegenüber den Versorgungsberechtigten zehn Jahre lang als Gesamtschuldner für die Pensionsverpflichtungen. Wird eine der beteiligten Gesellschaften insolvent, hat der Pensions-Sicherungs-Verein (PSV) einen Anspruch gegen die andere beteiligte Gesellschaft, denn der Anspruch der Versorgungsberechtigten gegen die andere Gesellschaft aufgrund der Gesamtschuld geht auf ihn über.
Gesetz zur Abmilderung der Folgen der COVID-19 Pandemie
On 23 March 2017, the German Parliament passed new rules on criminal law measures for recovery of criminal proceeds. In the future, enforcement of financial claims against criminal offenders will be widely handled by the public prosecution. Whilst the new rules may facilitate access to compensation for private parties affected by crimes, intellectual property right owners fighting counterfeiters may often find civil enforcement more promising.
Cornerstones of new rules