This course focuses on the concept of insolvency (reorganisation, work-out, winding-up, bankruptcy) and the ways in which corporate insolvency is regulated by legislation or by other means of regulation, including instruments of soft law. Emphasis is placed on insolvency law in corporate practice and the effectiveness of mechanisms for dealing with cross-border insolvency, both within the European Union as on a global scale.
Recent results of cross-border collaboration will be dealt with on a general, introductory level. In addition, practical case studies will be examined, for example the EU Insolvency Regulation that came into force May 2002; the United Nations Committee on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency of 1997 and its enactment in several countries around the world, including the USA (October 2005) and the UK (April 2006); the World Bank’s Principles for Effective Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes (2011); and the American Law Institute/International Insolvency Institute’s Global Principles for Cooperation in International Insolvency Cases (2012). Court cases applying the EU Insolvency Regulation will be discussed, these being mainly from the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and the European Court of Justice. Furthermore international insolvency cases, for example concerning the U.S. Bear Stearns hedge funds, the Australian internet gambling company Betcorp, the Russian oil giant Yukos Oil and the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, will be examined.