Introduction
On 1 December 2016, the current president and Socialist leader, Francois Hollande, decided not to seek a second term as President of France. Mr. Hollande is the first French President to decide not to run for a second term.
It is not always easy to prioritize between the various goals pursued in every insolvency legislation, namely; the continuation of the company, preservation of the jobs, the general economic/public interest and the payment of dividends to creditors.
There is no clear hierarchy in French law amongst these major targets and French case law appears fairly pragmatic. However compared to Insolvency regulations in other countries, French legislation and French case law appear very protective of the interests of the employees.
This seems obvious when one considers, for example,
Le procès-verbal de carence établi lorsqu’aucun représentant des salariés ne peut être désigné ou élu est immédiatement déposé au greffe du tribunal saisi de la procédure collective. La contestation de ce procès-verbal doit intervenir, à peine de forclusion, dans les deux jours de celui-ci. Ce délai ne court qu’à compter de l’accomplissement de la formalité de dépôt du procès-verbal au greffe.
Apport de la loi de modernisation de la justice du XXIe siècle
The French government has made the assessment that certain small commercial courts were regularly finding themselves confronted with cases of great complexity, only because the company in difficulty had its head office in the jurisdiction of these courts. It therefore announced the establishment of specialised commercial courts (TCS) which will process the most complex insolvency proceedings.
Si, en l’état d’une autorisation administrative de licencier un salarié protégé accordée à l’employeur par l’inspecteur du travail, le juge judiciaire ne peut, sans violer le principe de la séparation des pouvoirs, se prononcer sur le caractère réel et sérieux de la cause de licenciement, il résulte de l’article L. 631-17 du Code de commerce que lorsqu’un licenciement a été autorisé par une ordonnance du juge-commissaire, le caractère économique du licenciement et la régularité de l’ordonnance du juge-commissaire ne peuvent être discutés devant l’administration.
Introduction
A significant factor in the success of restructurings negotiated in French out-of-court processes (whether ad hoc mandates or conciliations) is the absolute confidentiality of the discussions conducted by a company and the relevant stakeholders (usually creditors, existing or new sponsors or key clients) under the supervision of a court-appointed insolvency practitioner.
Recent Developments