Historically, the insolvency proceedings are a matter of the national states and their own legal regimes. With progressive European integration, the undertaking activities grow over the national levels. Also with numerous cases of defaults of companies undertaking in different states of European Union, a request for regulation setting clear set rules for performance of multijurisdictional insolvency proceedings in European Union is made. At the beginning of the twenty first century the European regulation ES No. 1346/2000 on insolvency proceedings (the "Regulation") has become this set of rules. This Regulation, which among others stayed valid throughout the biggest financial crisis that European Union had come through and it is now becoming a quality ground on which the European Parliament is trying to establish its recast the regulation of European Parliament and Council (EU) 2015/848 on insolvency proceedings (the "Recast"). The interpretation of original Regulation was done by the European Court of Justice on several occasions. This interpretation helped on successful use of the Regulation. Based mostly on European Court of Justice decision making and international insolvency law experts opinion, the Recast has been prepared. The legal framework of the Regulation is therefore much widened. Many of the...

Thesis (LLD (Mercantile Law))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Groups of companies are part of the realities of the modern economic system. Despite the fact that such groups often function as a single economic entity, the legal point of departure remains that each company within the group of companies is a separate juristic person. The result of this is that a creditor of a company within the group can, in principle, only enforce his claim against the company which he contracted with or which caused him harm. Should he wish to claim from the holding company or other solvent companies within the group, he would have to rely on an exception to the doctrine of separate juristic personality, viz the possibility of piercing the socalled corporate veil. This dissertation is a comparative study of the extent to which the law protects a creditor of an insolvent company within a group. The applicable laws of Australia, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, were investigated and compared to the South African position. The dissertation concludes that the South African legal treatment of the problem is unsatisfactory and that the law should be amended through appropriate legislation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Maatskappygroepe is realiteite in die moderne ekonomiese wêreld. Ten spyte van die feit dat maatskappygroepe dikwels een ekonomiese entiteit vorm, huldig die reg die standpunt dat elke maatskappy binne ‘n groep maatskappye ‘n aparte regspersoon is. Die gevolg van hierdie standpunt is dat ‘n skuldeiser van ‘n maatskappy binne ‘n groep in beginsel slegs ‘n eis het teen die maatskappy met wie hy gekontrakteer het of wat hom skade berokken het. Indien hy ‘n eis teen die houermaatskappy of ander solvente maatskappye binne die groep wil instel, moet hy steun op ‘n uitsondering op die leerstuk van aparte regspersoonlikheid, te wete die moontlikheid om die sogenaamde korporatiewe sluier te deurdring. Hierdie proefskrif is ‘n regsvergelykende ondersoek van die beskerming van ‘n skuldeiser van ‘n insolvente maatskappy binne ‘n groep. Die toepaslike reg van Australië, Duitsland, Nieu-Seeland, die Verenigde Koninkryk en die Verenigde State van Amerika word ondersoek en vergelyk met die Suid-Afrikaanse regsposisie. Die proefskrif kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat die Suid-Afrikaanse regsreëling onbevredigend is en deur geskikte wetgewing gewysig moet word.

Topical issues of European insolvency law The thesis deals with COMI issue according to European Insolvency Regulation (1346/2000 EC) in connection with insolvency of group of companies. It analyses the interpretation of COMI concept under current wording of Regulation and fundamental decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union. It advocates the motion to determine the COMI of companies based on irrebuttable presumption of COMI in the place of registered seat. Further, the thesis concerns with current proposals for amendments to Regulation relating to COMI definition and insolvency of company groups and evaluates their benefits and drawbacks.

Legal regime of a group company after recodification of private law in the CR The issue of company group legislation is a topic increasingly discussed in the modern times. There are some questions that a legislator must ask: whether to allow the formation of corporate groups in the first place; if so, to what extent should disadvantageous instructs towards the subsidiary be permitted; how to handle the compensation for the damage caused by such instructs; in what manner to protect minority company members and creditors of the subsidiary. The recodification of private law in the Czech Republic has brought a new legislation of company groups in an attempt to introduce group enabling law in reaction to recent trends discussed on European level. The first part of this thesis concentrates on bases on which the legislation in the Czech Business Corporation Act is built, including a brief comparison of German and French concept of corporate company law, the doctrine of piercing the corporate veil and recent discussions on European level. The second part deals with the new term of influence and the first degree of company groups. It focuses mainly on the legal presumptions of control, the definition of concerted action and the topic of the majority partner. In the third part there is a detailed analysis of...

La trascendencia práctica del tema del régimen jurídico de las joint ventures es indudable. En los Estados miembros de la Unión Europea, y más especialmente en España, las joint ventures remiten a una idea de mayor eficiencia económica, permitiendo a las empresas formar alianzas entre ellas, y así mejorar su competitividad, adaptando sus estructuras a las dimensiones crecientes de los mercados europeos y mundiales.Las joint ventures no están reguladas como tales en ninguna legislación nacional europea. El derecho comunitario se concentra por su parte en el análisis de los efectos de estas operaciones sobre la competencia. Las joint ventures adquieren en la práctica, únicamente, su contenido jurídico.Este estudio tiene por objetivo presentar un análisis a la vez teórico y práctico del régimen jurídico de las joint ventures, intentando definir el "valor añadido" del trabajo del jurista profesional cuando interviene en la creación y el funcionamiento de las joint ventures. La adopción de esta óptica funcionalista permite integrar el análisis de los diversos aspectos jurídicos de las joint ventures, sus estructuras contractuales y societarias así como su tratamiento en derecho de la competencia, que se abordan tradicionalmente en estudios separados, e insistir en la interelación existente entre las diversas ramas del derecho afectadas. Este estudio se concentra esencialmente en las cuestiones planteadas por las joint ventures en el ámbito del derecho de las obligaciones y del derecho societario.El jurista profesional desempeña, en primer lugar, una función de naturaleza organizativa, creando un conjunto de reglas obligatorias (reglas jurídicas) para todas las empresas participantes en la operación, de acuerdo con sus intereses estratégicos. El resultado puede ser, por ejemplo, la conclusión de un simple contrato, la constitución de una AEIE o la de una sociedad de capital. La complejidad de la organización jurídica de la joint venture impide estudiar de manera separada, como dos piezas aisladas, el llamado acuerdo de base de la joint venture por un lado, y la sociedad eventualmente constituida, la llamada filial común, por otro. El hecho de no entender la filial común como parte de un todo unitario y más complejo no permite describir correctamente las especialidades del régimen aplicable a dicha sociedad frente a sociedades constituidas en otros contextos económicos. La organización compleja de las joint ventures se diferencia de otros negocios jurídicos complejos por razón de su finalidad económica específica, la de establecer una alianza entre empresas. Tal como indica el derecho comunitario de la competencia, la joint venture es una operación en la que: (i) participan dos o más empresas independientemente activas en el mercado; (ii) se agrupan recursos necesarios al desarrollo de una actividad económica común en el seno eventualmente, pero no obligatoriamente, de una entidad separada (la llamada empresa común"); (iii) las empresas participantes ejercen un control conjunto sobre dicha actividad económica común. Estos tres elementos forman el núcleo de la definición de la joint venture en derecho.La cuestión de la validez y eficacia jurídica de los pactos presentes en el contrato complejo de joint venture, cuando implica la existencia de una sociedad de capital, es la que más dificultades plantea. El problema respecto a la joint venture, como respecto a muchos otros contratos complejos, es organizar un discurso sobre el uso de la libertad y sus consecuencias en el ámbito del derecho de sociedades.Mientras el jurista profesional organiza la joint venture, atrae también la atención del legislador sobre las necesidades jurídicas de las empresas que deciden "aliarse" en el seno de una joint venture. Los pactos presentes en los contratos complejos de joint venture no dependen únicamente del contenido del derecho aplicable a la sociedad "filial común" por ejemplo, sino también de la creatividad de los juristas profesionales. Las finalidades a cubrir por el contrato lo serán en regla general mediante combinaciones originales y complejas de mecanismos jurídicos, demostrándose una vez más el papel relevante de la práctica en la formación del derecho. Como consecuencia, puede observarse una tendencia a la flexibilización del derecho aplicable a las sociedades de capital, sobre todo en los países europeos continentales. Esta adaptación del derecho a la realidad práctica se observa también, y de manera significativa, en otras ramas del derecho, como en derecho de la competencia donde el legislador intenta introducir un tratamiento cada vez más pragmático de los efectos producidos por las joint ventures sobre los mercados. El análisis de la organización jurídica de las joint ventures en la práctica demuestra, sin embargo, la falta de utilidad y de oportunidad de una ordenación legal de la joint venture como tal en Europa. Como en el caso de la organización de la empresa, basta con que los operadores "candidatos" a la alianza encuentren en el derecho positivo los legal tools, o instrumentos jurídicos, adaptados a los objetivos económicos legítimos que persiguen ( por ejemplo, diversas formas sociales, la AIE, la UTE, la cuenta en participación etc), y sobre la base de los cuales puedan conservar y reforzar el sentimiento de confianza que necesitan tener en la operación y en su "aliado" para alcanzar con éxito estos objetivos. / This study provides a comprehensive analysis of both practical and theoretical legal issues raised by joint ventures in Europe. In the European Union member states and especially in Spain, joint ventures are viewed as a high efficient strategic operation - allowing alliances between firms, which may improve their competitiveness and adapt them to the growing dimensions of European markets and to the new global economy. Joint ventures are not organised as such by any statute law in Europe. European law focuses on the analysis of the effects they may produce on competition. Joint ventures obtain a legal content only in practice.The aim of this study is to define the "added value" of the practical work of lawyers, when they take part in processes of creation of joint ventures. This question allows to integrate the analysis of different legal aspects of joint ventures - their contractual and corporate structure as well as their legal treatment under competition law - which are traditionally treated in separate studies, and to point out the existence of on-going interfaces between them. This study focuses essentially on the contractual and corporate aspects of joint ventures. Practitioners set up, first of all, mechanisms which are compulsory - i.e. legal rules - for the firms involved in the operation according to their strategic interests. The result may be, for instance, the creation of a mere "contractual joint venture", of an European Economic Interest Grouping, or the incorporation of a "joint venture company". The complexity of the joint venture legal organisation prevents from studying separately the so-called "joint venture agreement" on which is based the operation, and the company which may be incorporated within it. The joint venture company is only a part of a more complex ensemble, which needs to be understood as such in order to be correctly analysed.The complex legal organisation of joint ventures differs from any other complex legal organisations because of its specific purpose, ie. establish a strategic alliance between firms. It aims to organise an operation in which: (i) participate two or more firms independently active on the market; (ii) are gathered the resources necessary to carry out a common business activity, possibly but not obligatory within a separate entity; and (iii) the participating firms jointly control the common business activity. Those three features are at the basis of the legal definition of joint ventures.The question of the legal validity and efficiency of the terms and conditions present in incorporated joint venture agreements is the more problematic one for the practitioners. The main difficulty in relation with joint ventures like in relation with many other complex agreements is to determine the limits of use of contractual freedom in company law.While organising the operation, the practitioners are also drawing the attention of the legislator on the legal needs of the firms willing to enter into alliances. The terms and conditions present in joint venture agreements depend not only on the content of the statute law applicable to the joint venture company for example, but also on the creative skills of the practitioners. The joint venture agreement needs to cover different purposes generally through original and complex combinations of legal mechanisms, proving once again the relevant role of practice in the generation of law.As a result, it is possible to observe a certain "flexibilization" of the rules in company law, especially in continental Europe. This new tendency develops in parallel with the movement observed in competition law towards a more realistic and pragmatic analysis of joint venture effects on the markets.The analysis of the legal organisations of joint ventures existing in practice demonstrates however the lack of necessity for a statutory regulation of this (strategic) operation in Europe. Like in the case of the organisation of a firm, the economic players willing to enter into strategic alliances only need to find in statute law different "legal tools" which may adapt their legitimate economic interests - such as different company forms, the Economic Interest Grouping, the partnership - and on the basis of which they can conserve and reinforce the confidence they need to have in their partner and in the operation in order to achieve successfully their purposes.