The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 forced many countries in Europe to implement special legal solutions in order to adjust to the exceptional circumstances and the new reality.

Andersen, through the member and collaborating firms of Andersen Global and its European Service Line Restructuring and Insolvency, has prepared this guide to provide an insight into legal solutions adopted by selected European states in a response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of insolvency and restructuring procedures. It also encompasses other mechanisms deployed to mitigate negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as suspension of contractual obligations as well as optional or obligatory moratoria.

Comparative analysis of mechanisms adopted by certain European states indicates that suspension of procedural deadlines along with significant limitation of courts’ activity to urgent cases during the height of the pandemic have affected both insolvency and restructuring procedures. Several states have qualified insolvency and restructuring cases as urgent (which, in principle, have been continued). Many states have also modified conditions and suspended or frozen deadlines to apply for declaration of bankruptcy or to initiate a restructuring procedure. In very few countries, simplified/special restructuring procedures have been implemented with the aim of tackling case overload in insolvency and restructuring cases. 

We hope this guide will serve as a practical tool to support European business by providing knowledge on recent developments in insolvency and restructuring procedures.

You can download the guide here.