[BANKRUPTCY, INSOLVENCY & REHABILITATION PROCEEDINGS IN MEXICO] 62
primarily the following protections: (a) Suspension of Payments. Suspension of payments of the debts contracted prior to the date on which the Insolvency Ruling enters into effect, except for those that are indispensable for the day-to-day operation of the company, regarding which the Merchant should in due time inform the Insolvency Court. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the declaration of commercial insolvency will not be grounds for interrupting the payment of labor, tax or social security obligations, which should continue to be paid in due course. (b) Stay of Attachments and Foreclosures. From the moment the Commercial Insolvency Ruling is passed and until the end of the conciliatory stage, no enforcement, attachment or foreclosure order may be executed against the assets and rights of the Merchant, except for those practiced to secure or pay, as applicable, accrued wages and labor compensation for the period of two (2) years prior to the date of the Insolvency Ruling. As of the Insolvency Ruling and until the conclusion of the term for the conciliatory stage, administrative enforcement proceedings of tax credits will also be suspended. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the competent tax authorities may continue the necessary acts for the determination and securing tax credits against the Merchant. We consider that the power given to the tax authorities to “secure” property after the Insolvency Ruling, violates the principles of fairness that should exist between creditors, and that any “securing” performed by the tax authorities to guarantee any credit, cannot give them any privilege over the “secured” asset. (c) Property Separation. The assets in the possession of the Merchant that can be identified, and whose ownership has not been transferred thereto by any definitive and irrevocable legal means, may be separated by
their legitimate owners. In terms of the CIL, the following assets may be separated, as an example: (i) the real-estate sold to the Merchant, but not paid, to the extent the relevant deed has not been duly recorded in the corresponding public registry; (ii) the chattels purchased and payable in cash, if the Merchant has not paid the full price at the moment of the Insolvency Ruling; and (iii) the chattels or real- estate acquired on credit, if a breach of payment resolution clause has been recorded in the corresponding public registry. (d) Contracts and Obligations. With the exceptions established by the CIL, the contracts entered into by the Merchant, and any other obligations assumed thereby, continue to be valid in their terms, except when the Conciliator challenges them for being in the best interests of the Estate. Anyone who contracted with the Merchant, will be entitled to request that the Conciliator indicates whether he opposes the performance of the relevant contract, and if the Conciliator express that he will not oppose it, the Merchant will have to perform or guarantee its performance, and if the Conciliator manifests that he will oppose it, or does not give a reply within a term of 20 days, the party contracting with the Merchant may at any time terminate the contract, by notice to the Conciliator. Once the Insolvency Ruling is issued, the injunctive measures ordered by the Insolvency Court during the visit stage are substituted by the protections granted by such Ruling; provided that: (i) once the Reorganization Agreement is approved pursuant to the provisions stated in the CIL, any protection granted by the Insolvency Court is lifted as the Merchant is no longer considered as commercially insolvent; and (ii) if the Merchant is declared in bankruptcy, then injunctive measures subsist until the Court orders their lift.
ILN Restructuring & Insolvency Group – Bankruptcy, Insolvency & Rehabilitation Series
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