Implementation of the EU preventive restructuring directive: Part I Edited by Gert‐JanBoon, HaroldKoster and ReinoutVriesendorp (eds) (1st edition) (2023, Eleven Publishing, The Hague) xi and 280 pp., €78, ISBN 978‐90‐4730‐186‐8

Since the adoption of the Preventive Restructuring Directive (PRD) in 2019, much ink has been spilt on appreciating its novelty, what it is capable of, the scope of its terms and the variability in options enabled by the text as well as seeking to understand how national legislators will approach the implementation of the directive text into their domestic systems. The PRD has been a significantly different to its predecessors in the loosely termed ‘insolvency initiative’, as it deals with substantive insolvency law through the introduction of a new approach to restructuring. The core of the PRD is simple, to bring forward restructuring to an earlier time, if possible, at the early stages of financial distress and attempts made to understand its implications and take steps to address these. The intention behind its creation was to offer member states the possibility of adopting an entirely new procedure to embed restructuring in domestic law or, should they already have an analogous procedure, to adapt it to the exigencies and outcomes envisaged by the PRD.1 As a complex text with many permutations, many of the member states took advantage of an extended implementation phase. As this phase now approaches its end, it is time to see the results of the transposition process. Responding to this wish is this text, the first of a series, covering the process in six European Union countries (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece and Netherlands) as well as the United Kingdom, whose flagship Covid-19 legislation, the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020, contains procedures sharing great similarities with processes within the PRD framework. In each country chapter, the way the text is outlined first presents the scope of procedures as enacted in the jurisdiction, together with all the critical issues (actors, entry tests, stays, plans, outcomes, impact on stakeholders, court and insolvency office-holder roles, etc.) necessary to appreciate, especially where the PRD itself has enabled a range of options. With analysis of the texts and policy choices provided by eminent practitioners and academics from the jurisdictions concerned, the chapters present a holistic view of the procedures and the way they function, offering an insight into how a preventive restructuring culture might be welcomed in the jurisdiction and how the PRD procedures might interact with other domestic procedures available. The discussion is well-outlined with considerable detail and rigorous in its analysis, while the materials referenced are impeccable, the latest sources (including jurisprudence and literature) being cited, wherever available. The country chapters are preceded by an introduction to the text, which focuses on four main themes: the long duration of the ‘insolvency initiative’ and its ultimate outcome in the shape of the PRD, the minimum harmonization offered by the text, which enables early restructuring and a discharge for entrepreneurs, while providing a basis for ever more efficient processes bringing a greater return to creditors, the next steps likely beyond the PRD and, lastly, the role of comparative law in the reform process, which underlines subtly the rationale for this book and the overview it gives of key jurisdictions in Europe. The conclusion to the work overall draws together common and dissonant themes, offering an insight into the background work leading up to the adoption of the PRD, the nature of harmonization and the key stages of implementation, illustrated handsomely by tabular summaries charting the domestic shape of the transposed text, the entry criteria to and key actors in procedures, requests for and duration of stays, the plan adoption and confirmation process and, interestingly, the relationship of the PRD to the European Insolvency Regulation. The conclusion also contains an overall favourable assessment of whether the promise of the PRD has been delivered. In summary, this is a highly useful text that presents and summarises the state of play in the countries covered. As the start of an intended series of volumes, this work can only be recommended for all those interested in the PRD and how it has changed the landscape of restructuring in these jurisdictions. The advent of other works to cover the remaining jurisdictions will only add to the comprehensiveness of the series over time.

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