Italy recently enacted a new insolvency code (the "New Insolvency Code"), which takes effect August 14, 2020.
All’indomani della crisi sanitaria causata dall’epidemia di Covid-19 e delle conseguenti misure di lockdown, il Governo italiano si è trovato a dover adottare, tra le altre, le misure necessarie a conciliare l’esigenza di contenere la propagazione del virus con quella, altrettanto primaria, di garantire, nei limiti del possibile, il funzionamento della giustizia civile, penale, tributaria ed amministrativa sul territorio nazionale.
Il Decreto Legge n. 23/2020 (“Misure urgenti in materia di accesso al credito e di adempimenti fiscali per le imprese, di poteri speciali nei settori strategici, nonché interventi in materia di salute e lavoro, di proroga di termini amministrativi e processuali”) è stato pubblicato ieri in Gazzetta Ufficiale ed entra in vigore oggi, 9 aprile 2020. Nel Decreto sono previste alcune misure per garantire la continuità delle aziende.
The Italian Government has enacted Law Decree no. 23/2020, which was published in the Official Journal on April 8, 2020 and entered into force starting from April 9, 2020 (the "Decree"), introducing various new measures aimed, inter alia, at supporting companies affected financially by COVID-19 outbreak and shutdown in Italy. This newsflash outlines the measures rescheduling the entry into force of the Insolvency law regime and relaxing certain corporate law requirements, and looks at which companies will be eligible to take advantage of the new provisions.
On 8 April 2020, the Council of Ministers approved Law Decree no. 23, published in the Official Gazette (General Series no. 94, Extraordinary Edition of 8 April, 2020), containing “Urgent measures related to access to credit and tax obligations for businesses, special powers in strategic industry sectors, as well as healthcare and employment interventions, prorogation of administrative and procedural deadlines”.
This quick guide summarises the duties that directors of companies incorporated in Italy are subject to, and how those duties change when the company is insolvent or at risk of being insolvent.
It also gives an overview of the personal risk to directors when the company is in financial difficulty.
This note is intended as an overview and should not be relied on as legal advice. Should you require legal advice in relation to your specific circumstances, please contact the Restructuring & Insolvency team members whose contact details are at the end of this note.
Nei giorni scorsi il Ministero della Giustizia ha licenziato e trasmesso ai Ministeri dello Sviluppo Economico e al Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze, insieme alla relativa relazione illustrativa, lo schema del decreto legislativo recante il Codice della crisi di impresa e dell’insolvenza.
The reorganisation effort of distressed companies often requires new funding. This has led the Italian insolvency system to abandon punitive solutions in favour of incentives for companies in distress. An interesting aspect of this change is represented by the new rules adopted in recent years with regard to financing granted by shareholders of companies in crisis.
Via libera definitivo del Consiglio dei Ministri al decreto legislativo attuativo della riforma organica del diritto della crisi d’impresa e dell’insolvenza.
I. Introduction
Italy has replaced its Bankruptcy Act of 1942 with a comprehensive reform, the process for which started two years ago. On 19 October 2017, Parliament passed Law No. 155 of 2017 delegating the Government to adopt, within the next 12 months, a comprehensive reform of the rules governing financial crises and insolvency procedures. On 10 January 2019, the Government approved Legislative Decree No. 14 of 2019, captioned “Code for Distress and Insolvency” (Codice della Crisi d’Impresa e dell’Insovenza—the “Code”).