The European Corporate Insolvency Conference: Restructuring the European Business Enterprise
The European Corporate Insolvency Conference: Restructuring the European Business Enterprise
The Restructuring Recommendation & the Revised European Insolvency Regulation
Organised by Horst Eidenmüller (Freshfields Professor of Commercial Law) and Kristen van Zwieten (Clifford Chance Associate Professor of Law and Finance)
On Friday 8 May 2015,
At St Hugh’s College, Oxford
From 9.30am to 5.30pm
Lunch and refreshments will be provided
Registration will close on Thursday 30th April
In December 2012, the European Commission indicated it wished to adopt “a new European approach to business failure and insolvency”. To date, this has resulted in the Commission recommendation on a new approach to business failure and insolvency (“the Restructuring Recommendation”), published in March 2014, and a revision of the European Insolvency Regulation, the final version of which was agreed by the European Council in December 2014.
The original European Insolvency Regulation, which entered into force in May 2002, provides a procedural framework for insolvency proceedings in the European Union; it does not, however, replace the substantive insolvency laws of Member States. While generally regarded as successful, several problems were identified in the Regulation’s first ten years of operation. These included questions concerning whether its provisions extended to some national insolvency-related procedures such as schemes of arrangement in the UK; dissatisfaction with the definition of ‘Centre of Main Interests’, which determines jurisdiction; and a lack of rules for group insolvencies. These issues – and others – have been addressed in the revised Regulation.
At the same time, the European Union has considered whether substantive insolvency law should indeed remain a matter for Member States. In 2011, the European Parliament recommended harmonising specific aspects of national insolvency law. The Restructuring Recommendation of March 2014 takes a first step in this direction by suggesting a number of common principles – aimed at the promotion of restructuring rather than liquidation – for Member States to implement in their insolvency laws. These include the early restructuring of businesses, the availability of out-of- court restructuring procedures, and the possibility to request a temporary stay on creditor enforcement to facilitate the adoption of a restructuring plan. Member States have been asked to implement appropriate measures within one year: the extent to which they are willing or able to do so remains an open question.
The landscape of insolvency law in the European Union – and the degree to which Member States retain autonomy concerning their national procedural and substantive insolvency law – looks set to change in the next number of years. This conference will address both the feasibility and desirability of some of the changes proposed.
To register please go to: http://eurocorpinsolvency.eventbrite.co.uk
To download the full programme please click here - ECI Conference Programme