Tag Archives: French Insolvency Laws

Directors’ Duties – A Guide for French Businesses

This quick guide summarises the duties that directors of French companies are subject to, and how those duties change when the company is insolvent or at risk of being insolvent. It also gives an overview of the personal risk to directors when the company is in financial difficulty and suggests some practical tips to help … Continue Reading

Declaration of debts by French debtors- creditor vigilance is still required!

Three years ago, the Commercial Code amended the procedure for declaring debts in France with the aim of simplifying the management of insolvency proceedings. Before this reform, the only way for creditors (excluding employees) to declare their debts was to send their proof of debt to the receiver within 2 months (or 4 months for those living outside … Continue Reading

Beware French Employees’ Remedy for Damage to their “Individual Interests”

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. … Continue Reading

Creditors v Private Pension Holders – has UK bankruptcy law gone too soft?

The recent Court of Appeal decision in Horton v Henry has highlighted the protection afforded to a bankrupt holding a private pension to the detriment of his bankruptcy creditors. Facts The bankrupt, Mr Henry, was the holder of  a number of pension policies all of which contained provisions entitling him to make elections which would trigger rights to … Continue Reading

Snooze and you lose in Slovakia

A recent decision of the Slovak Courts suggest that if main proceedings have been opened in one member state and the debtor has assets in Slovakia, the insolvency practitioner in the main proceedings must act quickly and sell those assets before secondary proceedings are opened in Slovakia, otherwise he runs the risk of losing the … Continue Reading

France Publishes Final List of 19 Specialised Insolvency Commercial Courts

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. … Continue Reading

France names 18 Specialised Commercial Courts to deal with Largest Insolvencies

The Macron law of 7 August 2015, named after the current Minister of the Economy, anticipated the establishment of specialised commercial courts which will process the most complex insolvency proceedings. Currently, any of the 134 French commercial courts can be applied to; the choice being mainly the location of the distressed company’s headquarters. This new arrangement aims to improve … Continue Reading

Cherry picking from the global insolvency tree, the road to harmonisation

Complex multi-jurisdictional insolvencies are an inevitable consequence of the increasingly global nature of big business. The collapse of the likes of Barings, Enron and most recently Lehmans (the latter involving insolvency proceedings in some 16 jurisdictions) have highlighted the growing need for legislative action to promote cross-border co-operation and protect the interests of international creditors. … Continue Reading

French Insolvency Claims Go Online

Click here to read this article in French. It is now possible for creditors and co-contractors of insolvent companies to take certain steps in French insolvency proceedings and make certain statements “online”. Published in the middle of August, the 2015-1009 decree of 18 August 2015 could easily have gone unnoticed, if it hadn’t been expected … Continue Reading
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