It is with great sadness that I read the announcement below about the passing away of Eric Dirix. He was professor emeritus at the University of Leuven and a justice in the Belgian Court of Cassation (Supreme Court) for more than 20 years. His significance for private law in Belgium, but also for the Netherlands, is enormous. His publications and… Read More »2402-02-doc 3 Passing away of Professor Eric Dirix
Ensuring smoother electronic communication in cross-border judicial cooperation in civil, commercial and criminal matters is the aim of a recently-published regulation on the digitalisation of cross-border judicial cooperation and access to justice: Regulation (EU) 2023/2844. Among other things, the new regulation amends the EU’s Insolvency Regulation (EIR 2015). Published at the end of 2023, the Regulation 2023/2844 (with its accompanying… Read More »2024-02-doc2 EU embraces digitisation of national legal systems
In Europe, the availability of the EU Insolvency Regulation (Recast) (EIR 2015) serves as a solid rock in EU-related cross-border insolvency matters. The last five years, case law has been rather scarce. But in international insolvency practice the Regulation plays its role as tool to include when weighing options to arrive at pragmatic solutions. A first step in harmonising substantive… Read More »2024-02-doc1 Where is EU Insolvency Law heading in 2024?
A Dutch court’s approval of Diebold Nixdorf Dutch Holding BV’s WHOA scheme recently allowed it to achieve and implement a parallel restructuring plan in the United States. On 7 August, the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas ordered the recognition and enforcement of Diebold Nixdorf Dutch Holding BV’s WHOA agreement, marking the first time a foreign judge… Read More »2023-12-doc1 The Dutch WHOA scheme as a successful tool in international restructurings
Under international law, a presumption of immunity applies to goods of a foreign state, which makes them untouchable by seizure. This rule has an exception in the event it has been established that the goods in question are being used by the foreign state, or are intended to be used, for purposes other than public ones. It is up to… Read More »2023-11-doc1 Sovereign Wealth Fund shares – Immune from execution?
On 29 August, Global Restructuring Review (GRR) reported that the Zeeland-West-Brabant District Court in the Netherlands had given its reasons for granting a “worldwide stay” (“Dutch court issues reasons for unprecedented Ch11-style stay”). To avoid confusion, what the Dutch court granted is a stay in the meaning of the local legislation of the WHOA (“afkoelingsperiode”). It is not an “automatic… Read More »2023-10-doc1 Who it the “foreign representative” under the Model Law (MLCBI)?
A recent case in April 2023 before the Netherlands Commercial Court attracted attention from lawyers all over the globe. The topic in simple words: can digital data be owned? Can it be the subject of property rights and, if so, can it be transferred to another party or be the subject of a security right? From the outset it should… Read More »2023-09-doc1 Can digitaldata be the subject of property rights?
Cross-Border Protocols in Insolvencies of Multinational Enterprise Groups is the title of a book that I have written together with my Leiden colleague Ilya Kokorin. In May 2021 it has been published by Edward Elgar Publishing in the series Elgar Corporate and Insolvency Law and Practice. Cross-border insolvency protocols were an intriguing new development in the early days in my… Read More »2023-08-doc2 Lost and Found: Database of insolvency protocols
Article 369(10) of the Dutch Bankruptcy Act (DBA) stipulates that there is no legal remedy against decisions of the court within the framework of the WHOA scheme. Is this rule in accordance with Article 16 of the EU Preventive Restructuring Directive 2019/1023 regarding appeals? In the Netherlands, in principle, no appeal or appeal in cassation is possible against a court… Read More »2023-08-doc1 Should parties have the right to appeal a restructuring plan?
Professor Bork (University of Hamburg) is one of the most active authors in Europe about all aspects of international insolvency law, be it European, comparative or international, both practical as well as theoretical. In his new book Advanced introduction to Cross-Border Insolvency Law, he introduces the applicable codification, under which term he includes transnational law, non-binding recommendations (soft law, although… Read More »2023-07-doc3 Advanced Introduction to Cross-border Insolvency Law