The EU Preventive Restructuring Framework: in Extra Time?

In 2019, the EU adopted the Preventive Restructuring Directive to introduce harmonisation enabling viable enterprises and entrepreneurs that are in financial difficulties to have access to effective national preventive restructuring frameworks a so that they can continue operating. A harmonised standard to deal with distressed debt and allow for early restructurings was seen as a key component for a competitive and integrated European capital market. In this context, the authors came together in a comparative piece entitled ‘Restructuring Europe –The EU Preventive Restructuring Framework: a Hole in One?’ that mapped selected jurisdictions’ (Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) preventive restructuring frameworks against the background of the Directive’s objectives and provisions. Eighteen months later and as the implementation period is coming to an end, this article revisits those findings and offers a comparative update on the implementation process. This article also includes additional perspectives on the impact that recent events, such as the COVID-19 Pandemic, had and are having on the nature and progress of the Member States towards the introduction and improvement of preventive restructuring frameworks.