This inBrief examines the latest amendments to the Bankruptcy Law (Federal Decree Law No. 9 of 2016, as amended) introduced under Federal Decree Law No. 35 of 2021 (the New Law) and their impact on the personal liability of the board of directors and managers of bankrupt companies. The New Law came into effect on 1 November 2021.

In what could prove to be a landmark judgment, a Dubai court ruled earlier this month that the directors of a company in bankruptcy should be personally liable for the company’s debts, to the sum of almost AED 450,000,000 (around US$ 122,000,000).

Article 144 of Federal Law No.9 of 2016 (the “Bankruptcy Law”) allows a court to order directors to pay a bankrupt company’s debts where:

Watson Farley & Williams has developed the Global Aviation Restructuring Index (“GARI“), an online tool providing a comparative index of 50 restructuring processes in 25+ key aviation jurisdictions. GARI also assigns ‘debtor and creditor friendliness’ scores to each restructuring procedure, allowing for easy comparison across different procedures in the same or multiple jurisdictions. Please to access GARI.

On 10 October, the Dubai Court of First Instance issued a potentially ground-breaking judgment in respect of directors’ liability in the context of corporate insolvency.

In particular, in the matter of the liquidation of the public company Marka PJSC (“Marka”), the Court held the company’s board of directors and managers personally and jointly liable for the company’s outstanding debts, totalling close to AED 450 million.

In a landmark bankruptcy case judgment issued on 10 October 2021 the Dubai Court of First Instance has held the directors and managers of an insolvent Dubai-based PJSC to be personally liable to pay the outstanding debts of the previously listed company (now in liquidation) pursuant to the UAE Bankruptcy Law. This decision represents a very significant milestone in the UAE insolvency landscape since the enactment of the Bankruptcy Law in late 2016, being the first known instance of a case where such personal liability has been ordered.

Good evening.

Following are this week’s summaries of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of September 13, 2021.

Since the global financial crisis, the Middle East restructuring and insolvency market has come a long way. Having sought to reduce their economies' dependency on oil revenues and become more attractive to international investors, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in particular have significantly developed the restructuring and insolvency toolbox available to creditors and debtors alike.

A&C Legal Guides Guide To Litigation and Arbitration in The UAE 2021 PART 2: Offshore Courts Guide to Litigation and Arbitration in the UAE 2021 www.alsuwaidi.ae 2 Preface This guide has been written as an aid to provide users and potential users of legal services with an overview of the legal processes within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which may be available in any given situation.

In brief:

The case we handled relates to:

• enforcement of a Dutch bankruptcy judgment in the UAE;
• application of principle of reciprocity; and
• requirements of competency, justice and public policy.

Background

Following the substantial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global trade and business operations in the UAE, the Government of the UAE has taken measures to protect businesses facing financial difficulty. Among these measures has been a mechanism that provides relief to businesses in financial distress because of the pandemic within the framework of the UAE Federal Bankruptcy Law No. 9 of 2016 (the Bankruptcy Law).