Special Report: Judicial Co-Operation in the European Union: Insolvency and Rescue

The Judicial Co-Operation for Economic Recovery in Europe (JCOERE) is a research action project funded by the EU Commission DG Justice. The project focuses on particular substantive and procedural obstacles to the obligation imposed on courts in the European Insolvency Regulation Recast to co-operate in the comparative context of domestic restructuring frameworks, such as the Examinership procedure in Ireland, and the eventual implementation of the provisions of the Preventive Restructuring Directive. While engaging proactively with the EU judiciary, the team will document experiences with co-operation and utilisation of co-operation guidelines, disseminating findings to aid future court-to-court co-operation

JCOERE Report 1: Report 1: Identifying substantive rules in preventive restructuring frameworks including the Preventive Restructuring Directive which may be incompatible with judicial cooperation obligations

This JCOERE Report 1 identifies substantive and procedural rules in preventive restructuring frameworks (either those which have already been introduced in some European jurisdictions at this point, or in the PRD) which may present challenges to implementation and co-operation. JCOERE Report 2 will continue to develop the enquiry regarding courts, judicial and administrative authorities, and procedural rules and consider how these factors may affect court-to-court co-operation generally, while also benchmarking the utilisation and awareness of best practice guidelines for court-to-court co-operation in preventive restructuring. As the research has continued the importance of explaining some of these challenges by reference to legal culture has become clear

JCOERE Judicial Co-operation Supporting Economic Recovery in Europe: Report 2

The JCOERE Project, funded by the European Commission’s DG Justice Programme (2014-2020), addresses two aspects of the European Union’s strategy to respond to the problems of cross-border insolvency within the increasingly integrated internal market. The European Commission’s strategy is described in the Commission Recommendation 2014/135/EU on a new approach to business failure. The first aspect concerns the co-operation obligations that have been imposed on all domestic Member State courts and judiciary under the European Insolvency Regulation (Recast) 2015/848 (EIR Recast). The second concerns the implementation, subsequent to the Preventive Restructuring Directive 2019/1023, of a preventive restructuring framework in the domestic law of all Member States. The second JCOERE Report analyses the co-operation obligations arising from the EIR Recast, which are imposed on courts and practitioners in EU Member States to co-operate in cross-border insolvency and restructuring matters. The Report also undertakes a benchmarking of judicial utilization and awareness of best practice guidelines on co-operation that have been adopted by European and international organizations. This was achieved through engagement with judicial networks during a number of interactive workshops and through the distribution of a judicial survey to three focus groups comprised of members of the judiciary. This, together with JCOERE Report 1, has contributed to answering the overall project research question, which asks: Based on existing experience with restructuring (e.g. Ireland), will obstacles to court co-operation arise from substantive rules, which are particular to preventive restructuring. Will some of these obstacles to court co-operation be exacerbated in the preventive restructuring context, given that they pertain to existing procedural rules? JCOERE Project Report 2 reflects the goals of Work package 3 of the Project and accordingly focusses on the courts, including judicial and administrative authorities, charged with approving and implementing restructuring plans and to which the co-operation obligations are addressed. The second Report considers the application of best practices for co-operation of cross-border preventive restructuring cases, judicial awareness of existing obligations and guidelines and judicial practice in this area. Report 2 also considers broader questions, such as differences in judicial culture across the EU Member States, how this impacts mutual trust and effective cooperation, and how the obligations and broader initiatives concerning judicial co-operation are fundamental to the question of European integration and harmonization. The research in Report 2 also undertakes a comparative analysis of judicial co-operation in another federalized jurisdiction, undertaking a comparison between the European Union and the United States. The JCOERE Project was led by a team at University College Cork School of Law in collaboration with a team at the University of Florence, Titu Maiorescu University in Romania and INSOL Europe. The content of this document represents the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains

Restructuring Cross Border Groups: Key Considerations Around Foreign Tax and Finance Driven SPVs

Coherent privaatrech

Corporate governance and employees in South Africa.

Focusing on employees as stakeholders, we analyse corporate governance initiatives in South Africa encouraging and requiring companies to look beyond their shareholders' interests. Successive non-binding codes and the provisions of the recent Companies Act 2008 promoting this have been lauded by many commentators. The 2008 Act provides certain opportunities for employees and their representatives to exercise influence at the margins. We nevertheless question how far current corporate governance initiatives are adequate to promote employee interests. On the basis of three case studies of how companies have responded to employees as stakeholders, we conclude that in fact more stringent regulation is required

The ecology of the European badger (Meles meles) in Ireland: a review

peer-reviewedThe badger is an ecologically and economically important species. Detailed knowledge of aspects of the ecology of this animal in Ireland has only emerged through research over recent decades. Here, we review what is known about the species' Irish populations and compare these findings with populations in Britain and Europe. Like populations elsewhere, setts are preferentially constructed on south or southeast facing sloping ground in well-drained soil types. Unlike in Britain, Irish badger main setts are less complex and most commonly found in hedgerows. Badgers utilise many habitat types, but greater badger densities have been associated with landscapes with high proportions of pasture and broadleaf woodlands. Badgers in Ireland tend to have seasonally varied diets, with less dependence on earthworms than some other populations in northwest Europe. Recent research suggests that females exhibit later onset and timing of reproductive events, smaller litter sizes and lower loss of blastocysts than populations studied in Britain. Adult social groups in Ireland tend to be smaller than in Britain, though significantly larger than social groups from continental Europe. Although progress has been made in estimating the distribution and density of badger populations, national population estimates have varied widely in the Republic of Ireland. Future research should concentrate on filling gaps in our knowledge, including population models and predictive spatial modelling that will contribute to vaccine delivery, management and conservation strategies.Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and FoodTeagasc Walsh Fellowship Programm