The Department R A 6 in the Federal Ministry of Justice is rarely the focus of media attention. Alexander Bornemann, the head of the government, works calmly and systematically with a small team on the refinement of German insolvency law; usually this is hardly good for the headlines.
But since March there has been no trace of calm. In Bornemann’s department, weekend shifts are increasing rapidly: in a fast-track procedure, his troops launched the “Covid 19 Insolvency Suspension Act”. It allows the managers of pandemic-damaged companies to waive their right to go to the insolvency court until the end of September, provided there is a prospect of restructuring. Parts of the regulation are to be extended until 2021, and over-indebted companies will probably still not have to file for insolvency.
