On 11 January 2019, the Council of Ministers approved the text of the legislative decree containing the new code of corporate distress 1 and insolvency (the “Insolvency Code”). The new code was adopted to implement Law 155 of 11 October 2017 (the “2017 Law”), with which the Parliament delegated the Government to reform the pre-insolvency and insolvency rules and proceedings so as to supersede the current bankruptcy law (Royal Decree 267/42, the “Bankruptcy Law”), somewhat outdated and fragmented by the many amendments and integrations made over the years.
The publication of the Insolvency Code in the Official Gazette is due in the next few days, and the new code will come into force after 18 months from such publication, except for certain provisions (especially of a corporate nature) that will come into effect after 30 days from the same publication 2.
The Insolvency Code bears the general principles set forth by the 2017 Law 3 and overall reflects the draft legislative decree drawn up by the Commission chaired by Renato Rordorf, established by the Renzi government after the approval of the 2017 Law.
This document summarizes the main new features of the new code and the provisions that will come into force shortly; however, for the sake of brevity, it does not deal with the proceedings dedicated to small distressed enterprises and consumers 4 and the forced administrative liquidation, which will be dealt with separately.