Emergency COVID-19 Legislation in the Area of Insolvency and Restructuring Law

Abstract

The appearance of the COVID-19 in Europe has prompted lawmakers to introduce public health measures that inevitably hurt the economy by reducing economic activity and business revenues. The foreseeable risk that the pandemic could be followed immediately by a bank- ruptcy epidemic led to the adoption of rules related to insolvency and restructuring laws in emergency legislation in most European countries. These rules aim at avoiding businesses to become insolvent either by suspending insolvency tests (see II.) or by providing cash support and debt moratoria (see III.). They may also contain measures that indirectly affect insol- vency and restructuring proceedings (see IV.). This paper explains the logic behind emergency legislation and the specific rules adopted in European countries.