The Italian Supreme Court (5 July 2016, No. 13719) issues a maiden decision on the conditions for theprotection afforded by restructuring plan to stand if the plan fails and bankruptcy is declared
The case
On May 4th, 2016, Law Decree no. 59/2016 entered into force with the name “Urgent provisions regarding enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings, as well as measures in favor of the investors of banks in liquidation”. Such decree introduced a variety of modifications aimed at facilitating and speeding up the debt recovery.
The two aspects with the higher impact concern the provisions regarding the seizure and the ones about the immediate enforceability of the orders of payment.
E’ stato pubblicato sulla Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 59 del 3 maggio 2016 il Decreto Legge recante “Disposizioni urgenti in materia di procedure esecutive e concorsuali nonché a favore degli investitori in banche in liquidazione” (il Decreto). Il Decreto dovrà essere convertito in legge entro il 2 luglio 2016 (60 giorni dalla data di pubblicazione). Di seguito una breve descrizione delle misure più rilevanti.
Una nuova forma di garanzia, il “pegno mobiliare non possessorio”
A law decree providing for urgent measures on guarantees, foreclosure and insolvency proceedings and aiming at restoring damages suffered by investors of banks under liquidation, was published on the Italian Official Gazette n. 59 on 3 May 2016 (the Decree). The Decree must be converted into law by the Italian Parliament by 2 July 2016 (i.e. within 60 days from the date of its publication) to become fully effective.
“Pegno mobiliare non possessorio”, an Italian floating security interest
During the last two years, the Italian government has focused on reforming the Italian lending market, with the aim of boosting access to financing for Italian businesses and improving bankruptcy and enforcement proceedings in Italy. As part of this reform process, the Italian Council of Ministers enacted Decree No.
Background
On 26 April 2016, the Italian Government has introduced a new reform to shorten the length of the recovery of credit, by approving the decree law no. 59 (the Decree), entered into force on 3 May 2016. The Decree aims at fostering and facilitating the recovery of credit throughout enforcement and insolvency proceedings.
The main innovations concern:
On May 3, 2016 the Italian government approved Law Decree No. 59 (the “Decree”) which, inter alia, provides for new types of security and introduces streamlined in-court and out-of-court enforcement procedures. In addition, the Decree mandates the setting up of a centralized electronic register for security enforcement proceedings and insolvency and pre-insolvency restructuring proceedings. The Decree aims to facilitate financings and secondary debt transactions by reinforcing creditors’ rights and providing more flexible instruments to lenders and borrowers.
Law Decree no. 59 of 3 May 2016, which is already in force although it will require formal conversion into Law within 60 days in order not to lose its validity.
Among the provisions of the Law Decree, of particular relevance is the introduction of a new type of floating charge, namely “non-possessory pledge”, provided for by art. 1 of the Law Decree.
The Court of Cassation (29 March 2016, No. 6045) ruled that the look-back period for claw-back actionsstarts from the concordato filing, when bankruptcy was declared after a period of time, provided thatboth procedures refer to the same insolvency situation
The case
The Court of Bolzano (5 April 2016) confirms that revolving credit facility agreements providing forancillary set-off and collection terms in favour of the bank can be suspended, but the bank is protectedbecause the amounts collected are controlled by the Judicial Commissioner
The case