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England and Wales High Court (Chancery Division) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Chancery Division) Decisions >> Brac Rent-A-Car International Inc, Re [2003] EWHC (Ch) 128 (7 February 2003) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2003/128.html Cite as: [2003] EWHC (Ch) 128 |
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CHANCERY DIVISION
COMPANIES COURT
IN THE MATTER OF
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL | ||
B e f o r e :
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IN THE MATTER OF BRAC RENT-A-CAR INTERNATIONAL INC |
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Louise Hutton (instructed by S J Berwin for the Judgment Creditors, Francesco Dragotto and Giuseppe Dragotto, trading as Italy by Car)
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Crown Copyright ©
Mr Justice Lloyd:
"In this Part a reference to a company includes a reference to a company in relation to which an administration order may be made by virtue of article 3 of the EC regulation."
"(13) The 'centre of main interests' should correspond to the place where the debtor conducts the administration of his interests on a regular basis and is therefore ascertainable by third parties.
(14) This regulation applies only to proceedings where the centre of the debtor's main interests is located in the Community."
"Every creditor, who has his habitual residence, domicile or registered office in the Community, should have the right to lodge his claims in each of the insolvency proceedings pending in the Community relating to the debtor's assets."
"1. The courts of the Member State within the territory of which the centre of a debtor's main interests is situated shall have jurisdiction to open insolvency proceedings. In the case of a company or legal person, the place of the registered office shall be presumed to be the centre of its main interests in the absence of proof to the contrary.
2. Where the centre of a debtor's main interests is situated within the territory of a Member State, the courts of another Member State shall have jurisdiction to open insolvency proceedings against that debtor only if he possesses an establishment within the territory of that other Member State. The effects of those proceedings shall be restricted to the assets of the debtor situated in the territory of the latter Member State."
"'establishment' shall mean any place of operations where the debtor carries out a non-transitory economic activity with human means and goods"
"Any creditor may lodge his claim in the main proceedings and in any secondary proceedings."
"The Convention deals only with the intra-Community effects of insolvency proceedings. It applies only when the centre of the debtor's main interests lies within the territory of a Contracting State (i.e. the Community). Even then, the Convention does not regulate the effect of the proceedings vis-à-vis third States. In relation to third States, the Convention does not impair the freedom of the Contracting States to adopt the appropriate rules."
"By using the term 'interests', the intention was to encompass not only commercial, industrial or professional activities, but also general economic activities, so as to include the activities of private individuals (e.g. consumers). The expression 'main' serves as a criterion for the cases where these interests include activities of different types which are run from different centres. In principle, the centre of main interests will in the case of professionals be the place of their professional domicile and for natural persons in general, the place of their habitual residence. Where companies and legal persons are concerned, the Convention presumes, unless proved to the contrary, that the debtor's centre of main interests is the place of his registered office. This place normally corresponds to the debtor's head office."