Podsumowanie
The Insolvency Act 1986 is the principal statute governing corporate and personal insolvency in England & Wales. For companies, it provides for voluntary arrangements, administration, receivership, and winding up (liquidation). For individuals, it covers individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs), bankruptcy, and discharge. It also contains provisions on transactions at an undervalue, preferences, and directors' liability for wrongful and fraudulent trading.
Kluczowe punkty
- Company voluntary arrangements (CVAs) — proposal to creditors for composition or scheme (Part I)
- Administration — company placed under management of administrator to rescue as going concern (Part II, Schedule B1)
- Liquidation — compulsory winding up by court or voluntary winding up (Parts IV–V)
- Preferences and transactions at an undervalue can be set aside (ss.238–241)
- Wrongful trading — directors liable for trading while knowing no reasonable prospect of avoiding insolvent liquidation (s.214)
- Fraudulent trading — carrying on business with intent to defraud creditors (s.213)
- Bankruptcy — individual insolvency: petition, adjudication, trustee in bankruptcy (Part IX)
- Automatic discharge from bankruptcy after 1 year (s.279, as amended)
- Administration — Schedule B1 provides for administration orders to rescue companies or achieve better results for creditors
- Liquidation — Parts IV and V govern compulsory and voluntary winding up of companies
- Company Voluntary Arrangements (CVAs) — Part I allows companies to propose binding arrangements with creditors
- Wrongful trading — s.214 imposes personal liability on directors who continue trading when they knew or ought to have known there was no reasonable prospect of avoiding insolvent liquidation
- Fraudulent trading — s.213 targets those knowingly party to carrying on business with intent to defraud creditors
- Transactions at an undervalue (s.238) and preferences (s.239) may be set aside by a liquidator or administrator
- Bankruptcy — Part IX governs personal insolvency, including the making of bankruptcy orders and the role of the trustee in bankruptcy
- Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) — Part VIII allows individuals to propose formal arrangements with creditors
- Corporate insolvency: administration, liquidation, CVAs
- Personal insolvency: bankruptcy, IVAs, DROs
- Wrongful and fraudulent trading provisions
- Transaction avoidance (preferences, undervalue transactions)
Części i sekcje
Historia nowelizacji
2002 — Enterprise Act 2002
Reformed administration procedure (Schedule B1), abolished Crown preference, reduced bankruptcy discharge period to 1 year.
2020 — Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020
Introduced moratorium for companies in financial difficulty, new restructuring plan procedure, and restrictions on termination of supply contracts.
2002 — Enterprise Act 2002
Reformed administration procedure, abolished Crown preference, reduced automatic bankruptcy discharge to 12 months.
2020 — Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020
Introduced standalone moratorium, restructuring plan, and restrictions on termination clauses in supply contracts.
2020 — Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020
Introduced moratorium procedure, restructuring plans, and restrictions on ipso facto clauses.