After many years of negotiations among Member States, a uniform set of private international law rules has been established to determine the conduct of cross-border insolvency proceedings within the European Community. This is the European Insolvency Regulation of May 2000. Although each state still retains its own insolvency law, the regulation greatly reduces the risk of opportunistic behaviour by providing certainty as to which European courts have jurisdiction to open insolvency proceedings and which state?s laws apply, in addition to ensuring the cross-border effectiveness within the EU of the decisions handed down by those courts. This in-depth commentary offers practitioners in international business transactions and litigation a definitive guide to the workings of the Insolvency Regulation. The authors?one of whom co-wrote the official explanatory report on the 1995 Convention on Insolvency Proceedings, a report that still plays a fundamental hermeneutic role?leave no stone unturned in their probing analysis, which explains in detail such elements as the following: relationship with other community legal instruments and international conventions; territorial scope; substantive scope; third-party rights in rem and reservation of title; set-off; contracts relating to immovable property; employment contracts and relationships; payment systems and financial markets; community patents and trademarks; publication and registration; lodgement of claims; and special considerations affecting credit institutions and insurance undertakings. Company lawyers handling insolvency cases and issues will find nothing comparable to this expert work. Its direct practical usefulness is immediately apparent. In addition, however, it stands out as a preeminent work on a critical and hard-won legal instrument (and by extension on the entire field of European insolvency law) and as such is an essential resource for jurists and legal academics.

In the past decades, many Member States of the European Union have introduced important new legislation in the field of insolvency law. Principles of European Insolvency Law tries to capture the common elements that national insolvency laws share and that make up the essence of insolvency proceedings in Europe. It makes a first, and, so far, unique attempt, to tackle an area of law which is of great commercial importance, but in which some might have thought it was too difficult to detect a European approach. Principles of European Insolvency Law looks to a future of more European integration in areas of commercial law and practice. They may serve as working material for further study, which could result in proposals for legislation on a supranational level. In the shorter term, the Principles will be of use in efforts to modernise national insolvency laws by serving as a 'European framework'. Taking account of the Principles in drafting reform proposals can lead to a greater conformity of new national legislation with the essence of European insolvency law.

Critically analysing the substantive law of insolvency in the EU countries as a whole, this book carries out horizontal cross-cutting analysis of the data gathered from a study of national insolvency laws. It selects particular areas for detailed discussion and considers the pros and cons of particular legislative solutions.

A comparative analysis of security rights in insolvency proceedings under the main legal traditions of the European Union (common law, Germanic, Napoleonic Code and East European) in the context of Articles 5 and 13 of the European Insolvency Regulation Regulation 1346/2000.

This comprehensive book provides a clear analysis of the main features of the European Insolvency Regulation 2015/848, within the context of previous EU initiatives, as well as addressing the contrasting objectives of universalism and territorialism which underpin cross border insolvency law. It measures the EU regulations against the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross Border Insolvency and compares this with how the Model Law has been implemented elsewhere, such as in the US and the UK.

This book presents problems that often arise in the context of international/cross-border insolvencies; analyzes and compares national legislations and jurisprudence; elucidates the solutions offered by international/regional instruments; and explores the differences in the implementation of these instruments by various countries and the consequences of these differences. It examines in detail a number of famous and less famous cases tried by national courts, in which it became readily apparent that insolvency law remains one of the bastions of national law. In addition, the book discusses the notion of transplanting foreign [international] insolvency rules and especially the influence that US insolvency law has exerted on other countries’ insolvency [and international insolvency] law. Far from adopting an unrealistically optimistic stance, it soberly examines the complications of cross-border insolvencies, while also presenting potential solutions.

This book presents a comprehensive analysis of the regulation of cross-border insolvencies in Europe. Council Regulation 1346/2000 on Insolvency Proceedings forms the natural focal point of such a study. However, while this book explores in detail the background, legal basis as well as the substance of the Regulation, it also contains an examination of the Regulation from two wider perspectives: that of international cross-border insolvency regulation and Community law. The approach adopted by the Regulation to the problems raised by cross-border insolvency forms part of a paradigmatic shift at the global level. The 'struggle over jurisdiction' - the natural state of affairs under the old principles of 'universality & territoriality' - is increasingly being replaced by co-operation between the jurisdictions involved. The Regulation must be understood against the backdrop of these new cooperative approaches, including the UNCITRAL Model Law and ancillary proceedings. Doing so, this book argues that the co-operative framework of the Regulation is limited and may ultimately not suffice to realise the efficient and effective cross-border proceedings it is aiming for. Although the Regulation is an exponent of this global shift towards cooperation, the legal context in which it operates is nevertheless very different. Community law, as an autonomous legal order, has limited the private international law autonomy of Member States and generated a comitas Europaea. This book argues that Community law and its comitas must be taken seriously. They are an important source of principles to guide courts in the interpretation and application of the Regulation and may reinforce and expand the co-operative mechanisms of the Regulation. Jona Israel obtained his LL.M. at the University of East Anglia, Norwich in 1994 and graduated at the University of Maastricht in 1995. From 1995 to 1998 he was researcher at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. Since 1998 he has been lecturer at the University of Maastricht, teaching private international law, insolvency law and commercial law.

This book is a comprehensive commentary on the EIR in light of recent decisions of the ECJ and decisions of the judicatures of the various Member States of the EU. It contains a commentary on Article 102, Sections 1 to 11 of the German EGInsO (The Act Introducing the Insolvency Act), as well as country reports on the international insolvency laws of France, Great Britain, and Hungary. This book also deals with the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency together with detailed references to the international insolvency laws of the U.S.A., and it also includes a discussion of protocols. The appendix to the commentary on Article 3 of the EIR contains an extensive Table of Cases, which sets out over 100 cases from the various Member States, including decisions and literature references. While thus being tailored to the needs of the European insolvency practitioner, this commentary also serves as a knowledge-base from which further exploration of the material can begin. The contributing authors are all well-respected academics and practitioners in Germany, England, France, Hungary, and the U.S.A.

Freedom of establishment is one of the four fundamental freedoms of the European Union. The principle is that natural persons who are European Union Citizens, and legal entities formed in accordance with the law of a Member State and having its registered office, central administration or principal place of business within the EU, may take up economic activity in any Member State in a stable and continuous form regardless of nationality or mode of incorporation. This book examines the way in which EU law has influenced how national courts in Europe assert jurisdiction in cross-border corporate disputes and insolvencies, and the mechanism which allows them to decide which national law should apply to the substance of the dispute. The book also considers the potential for EU Member States to compete for devising national corporate and insolvency legislation that will attract incorporations or insolvencies. Central to the book is the concept of national choice of law. In considering the impact of freedom of establishment on private international law for corporations, the book uniquely analyses both corporate and insolvency law together, presenting the topic in the broadest possible sense. Importantly, the doctrine of abuse in corporate and insolvency law is covered, raising the question of 'forum shopping' and regulatory competition which underpins the intersection between freedom of establishment and private international law. Through examination of the most recent and leading judgments of the European Court of Justice in Centros and Cadbury Schweppes, the book derives certain conclusions as to the operation of the doctrine of abuse and the limits thereof in the context of freedom of establishment. Being the first in the field to examine the leading ECJ cases of Inspire Art, Sevic and Cartesio regarding the real seat doctrine, the book makes the judgment that there is no incompatibility as such between the doctrine and the freedom of establishment. Ultimately, the book analyses to what extent diversity in the corporate and insolvency laws of the Member States should be preserved, so as to encourage competition between jurisdictions in Europe.