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Berlin (dpa) - After both companies and consumers got into financial difficulties as a result of the corona lockdown, the Bundestag decided on a number of changes in insolvency law.
With the laws that were passed on Thursday, the obligation to file for insolvency remains suspended beyond the end of the year.
It is also easier for ailing companies to reorganize themselves without bankruptcy proceedings.
In addition, over-indebted companies and consumers will be able to free themselves from their residual debt more quickly than before.
For companies overindebted as a result of the pandemic, the obligation to file for insolvency remains suspended at least until the end of January - mainly because the disbursement of state corona aid has been delayed.
"The companies got into this payment problem through no fault of their own," said the legal policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Johannes Fechner.
That is why they should "not be driven into bankruptcy".
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Usually, an application for bankruptcy must be filed no later than three weeks after a reason for bankruptcy such as over-indebtedness or insolvency occurs.
For companies that are over-indebted but not insolvent due to the corona pandemic, this obligation was suspended in the spring - initially until September, then until the end of December.
Now this exemption applies at least to January 2021.
If a company or a consumer does have to file for bankruptcy, an accelerated fresh start beckons in future.
They will be freed from their remaining debts faster than before so that they can quickly participate in social and economic life again.
In future, the first-time debt discharge procedure will only take three years instead of the current six.
Such a reduction was previously only possible if the debtors had paid all procedural costs and 35 percent of the creditors' claims.
These requirements are no longer applicable.
The shortening is to apply retrospectively to all insolvency proceedings that were applied for from October 1st - and thus also explicitly help debtors who have become insolvent due to the corona pandemic.
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In the future, financially troubled companies will no longer need the consent of all creditors in order to reorganize themselves without bankruptcy proceedings.
You only have to convince a majority of the creditors of your own restructuring plan.
The originally envisaged option of allowing the companies concerned to withdraw from current contracts in the event of such a pre-insolvency reorganization was however deleted from the draft law due to legal concerns.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201217-99-735049 / 2