On 9 October 2012, a bill proposal was introduced to the Luxembourg Parliament providing for a right to claim back "intangible" and non-fungible movable assets from a bankrupt company.
According to the explanatory memorandum, the bill proposal is intended to allow the recovery of data from a bankrupt provider of distance IT services or cloud computing solutions. Once passed, the law will provide greater certainty as to the consequences of the bankruptcy of a cloud computing provider on the data in its possession.
"Separable" Assets
Introduction
Luxembourg’s sophisticated financial services infrastructure, global brand recognition, full EU single market access and extensive double tax treaty network has lead to its development as a core jurisdiction for non-regulated investment structures. This has resulted in the domiciling of several tens of thousands of investment holding companies, many of which form part of globally recognised corporate groups or hold the portfolio investments of leading international investment funds.
Le 11 juin 2013, la Chambre des députés luxembourgeoise a voté une loi instaurant un droit de revendication en faveur de la personne qui a confié des biens meubles "incorporels" non fongibles à une entreprise qui est tombée en faillite (le dossier parlementaire peut être téléchargé ici). Il ressort des travaux préparatoires qu'une des hypothèses visées est la revendication de données et fichiers stockés via une solution "cloud" (informatique dématérialisée) chez un prestataire tiers.
Le Luxembourg souhaite se doter de nouvelles procédures d’insolvabilité en raison d’une augmentation constante du nombre de faillites qui a désormais atteint un niveau record en dépassant le millier de faillites depuis 2012. Le gouvernement considère qu’en période de crise la mise en place d’un système approprié en matière d’entreprises en difficulté devient primordiale pour prévenir au mieux la faillite.
In the recent Federal Court case of Abdul Rashid bin Mohamad Isa v PTT International Trading Pte Ltd [2024] MLJU 1518, the core issue that arose in the appeal was whether the withdrawal of the Creditor’s Petition constituted a termination of the entire bankruptcy proceedings including the Bankruptcy Notice served on the Judgment Debtor
BACKGROUND FACTS OF THE CASE
The company sits at the apex of the Singapore-headquartered Otto Marine Group, which has some 70 subsidiaries, associate companies and indirect subsidiaries, employing more than 622 employees worldwide. The Otto Marine Group is in the business of investment holding, construction, repair and servicing of vessels, chartering and leasing of vessels, and offshore services. The sole director and effective shareholder of Otto Marine is Malaysian tycoon Datuk Seri Yaw Chee Siew.