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.
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Bankruptcy agreement procedure
Bankruptcy agreements are governed by Articles 124 to 141 of the Bankruptcy Law and aim to speed up bankruptcy proceedings. Bankruptcy proceedings are closed either on the liquidation of assets and distribution of the proceeds or as a result of a bankruptcy agreement.
Under Article 124, a bankruptcy agreement can be proposed during the course of a bankruptcy by:
Astaldi, the Italian multinational construction company, filed on Friday (28 September) for concordato in bianco. This is an in-court restructuring proceeding under the Italian Bankruptcy Law, which imposes a standstill period for up to six months. Astaldi’s reference to certain provisions in the Bankruptcy Law indicates that it intends to use the standstill period to prepare for a concordato preventivo filing.
Nearly a year ago, the Italian Parliament passed Law 155/2017 giving the Government twelve months to adopt a root and branch reform of the rules governing business distress and insolvency procedures, taking into account European legislation (EU Regulation 2015/848, Commission Recommendation 2014/135) and the principles of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.
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.