The Ministers of Justice of the EU Member States within the Council of the European Union recently adopted a position on the directive on corporate insolvency. According to Małgorzata Anisimowicz, President of PMR Restructuring, the new changes move in a positive direction.
In a common position, ministers within the EU Council agreed that national rules should have decisive force and that common regulations should only cover a few elements of proceedings.
These mainly concern: the possibility of stopping enforcement at the stage of informal and formal pre-insolvency proceedings (proceedings for approval of an arrangement); the need to adopt a single instrument in the form of a restructuring plan, which will cover both the restructuring plan and the arrangement; the availability of a model restructuring plan, especially for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs; the possibility of including in-kind creditors and shareholders (economic owners of the company) in the arrangement; the extension of the responsibility of company managers; the creation of an application for restructuring advisers.
The period is to be limited protection against executions bailiffs and it will be up to 4 months – except for complicated, exceptional situations.