Worldwide: Insolvency/Bankruptcy

Companies facing financial distress must carefully evaluate their restructuring options, with protective shield proceedings offering a unique opportunity to prepare an insolvency plan while maintaining existing management. This specialized form of preliminary self-administration requires precise timing and thorough preparation, as it is only available when a company faces imminent illiquidity or over-indebtedness but has not yet become actually illiquid.

Under Maltese company law, creditors holding at least one-fourth of a company's debt value have the statutory right to request a meeting to potentially replace the Official Receiver as liquidator. This mechanism provides creditors with meaningful influence over the liquidation process, particularly when specialized expertise or a different approach to asset recovery is needed.

The European Union has formally adopted a directive establishing minimum standards for insolvency law harmonization across Member States, covering avoidance actions, asset tracing, pre-pack proceedings, director filing duties, creditors' committees, and transparency measures. While the directive sets baseline requirements in these critical areas, its practical impact on German insolvency law is expected to be limited, as Germany's existing framework already meets or exceeds most of the directive's standards

The creditors' committee serves as a crucial oversight body in German insolvency proceedings, wielding significant monitoring and co-determination powers over the insolvency administrator.

When a client declares bankruptcy after receiving most of your work but before final payment, copyright law offers a powerful legal strategy. Understanding the indivisibility of copyright transfer agreements can be the key to recovering your money when a €100,000 contract goes unpaid.

Legislative Decree No. 47 of March 27, 2026 fundamentally restructures Italian corporate governance by placing all three governance models on equal footing, expanding board-level duties...

When a winding up application is filed in Malta, the company doesn't immediately enter liquidation, but certain legal protections activate. Under the Companies Act, the court has discretion to stay ongoing judicial proceedings against the company during this interim period. This mechanism preserves the company's position and ensures all creditors are treated fairly in accordance with insolvency rules.

Failure to remit employee social security contributions in Germany may trigger personal criminal and civil liability of managing directors under Section 266a German Criminal Code.

Debt is not separately defined for Belgian tax purposes, hence in principle the civil law definition prevails.